Innocence Play
by ShizukaRen-Hime
Summary: When Win and Daine finally decided to join the Black Order and become fully-fledged exorcists, they hadn't the slightest clue of what they were getting themselves into...
1. The Black Order, Breached

**Chapter 1: The Black Order, Breached**

"I can't believe they haven't even noticed we're in yet."

"I'm sure they will soon, Win."

There was an edge to Daine's voice that her friend promptly waved away.

"Don't worry so much! Of course they will, and when they do, I'm sure they'll be happy to know that their security system sucks."

Daine sighed.

"Fine. I just hope they bring us refreshments when they try to torture information out of us. HOW DID YOU GET HERE? Would you care for a biscuit? WHAT IS YOUR PURPOSE IN BREAKING IN? I have chocolates, shortbread, scones, wafers, and tea cakes. ARE YOU ALLIED WITH THE AKUMA AND THE MILLENNIUM EARL? Two lumps of sugar, or three?"

She chuckled slightly as Win roared with laughter. Win clutched at her stomach and wobbled back and forth, though Daine knew there was little danger of her falling off the rafter on which they sat. Daine continued her little speech.

"I would tell them anything they wanted to know for three pieces of shortbread and half a pint of cold tea!"

Win snorted.

"Somehow, that doesn't seem appetizing."

Daine giggled.

"Really it isn't! I'm absolutely parched, though, and cold tea is better than none."

Win sighed and shook her head, grinning widely. Then, without any sort of warning whatsoever, she grabbed at Daine's sleeve and pulled her off the rafter even as she quietly and with a cat-like stealth dropped down. Win landed steadily on her feet and Daine only slightly less so, though she held onto Win's elbow for a bit of support.

"Win, I hate it when you do that."

"Awwwww, but it's fun!"

Daine rolled her eyes.

"For you, maybe."

Win giggled slightly and then pulled Daine towards a mountain of papers. Rather boldly, she pushed half of them aside until they were face to face with a man with glasses and the oddest hat. He stared at them.

"_Who_ are _you…_?"

Win thought for a moment before she responded for both her and Daine.

"Bring us…a kettle of English breakfast tea, a glass, a gallon or two of milk, and a platter of assorted tea-time sweets, do make sure there are tea cakes, shortbread, and chocolate biscuits with that…and four loaves of pumpkin bread, maybe half a loaf of iced lemon pound cake, um…you know what, while you're at it, bring me steak, medium rare and some fettuccini alfredo. Hmmm…"

She turned to Daine.

"I got your tea, your sweets, your lemon pound cake…would you like dinner as well?"

Daine nodded, smiling sweetly. Win turned back to the man, who was gaping at them.

"Right then, fish and chips for Daine and…for me, along with all that up there, I think I'll have a hamburger with bacon, cheese, and ketchup, oh, and some sushi, and…NACHOS!"

She jumped up grinning happily.

"Yeah, that'll do for now."

The man stared at her. She glared slightly.

"Well, hop to it!"

He slowly stood up. Daine watched with one of those feelings in the pit of her stomach. Win clearly didn't have the same misgivings as Daine. The man stood stock still at his desk for a moment before lifting his head and bellowing "INTRUDERS!"

And thus the two strikingly lovely females found themselves captives. Daine had a sword to her neck and Win was literally being held in the palm of a boy with white hair's hand. They were on opposite sides of the room. The white-haired boy made a face.

"Komui, I hardly think this is necessary. Neither of them is an akuma."

The man with the glasses and the weird hat, Komui, apparently, narrowed his eyes.

"They broke in though, didn't they? That hardly serves as proof of their good character!"

Win pouted.

"We were just testing out your security system. It sucks, by the way."

Komui glared at her.

"I'll thank you to keep your opinions to yourself."

Win stuck her tongue out at him. Daine made to move forward but was stopped by the sudden pressure of a sharp blade against the soft of her throat. She stopped when she saw Win's eyes zero in at the line of red that had appeared on her throat. The white-haired boy freaked out at this.

"Hey, Kanda, wait! Don't go around slitting people's throats!"

The man behind Daine, whom she couldn't really see, tightened his grip on her shoulder and the blade in his hand flashed wickedly in the light at the slightest flick of his wrist.

"Intruders will not be tolerated."

Komui watched this for a moment before speaking.

"Kanda, Allen's right. At least for now."

He inspected each of the girls from where he sat.

"They don't look like much of a threat, but in any case, neither is armed nor shows signs of being a parasite type. I don't know how they got here, but they shouldn't have. Outsiders, whether of neutral parties or not, aren't permitted. I suppose we'll have to-"

"We'll have to kill them. Perhaps they are working as spies for the Millennium Earl. We can't risk it. He may have decided to send in two normal humans to trick us."

Kanda's sword was touching Daine's throat again as he interrupted Komui. Win opened her mouth to object but Allen beat her to it.

"We can't just kill innocent people!"

Komui inclined his head ever so slightly.

"I agree. It would be in bad form…plus, who knows what my darling Lenalee would say!"

Allen, Win, and Daine sweatdropped. Neither of the girls knew who Lenalee was, but the idea that their lives hung in the balance weighing against her approval was a bit ridiculous. Daine thought quickly. They clearly thought that they were normal humans, but even then, the best chance they might have would be…She looked up and caught Win's eyes. Clearly they were having similar thoughts. Daine looked at the floor and sniffled. Win glared at Komui.

"You made my sister cry!"

Komui was a bit perturbed by this.

"Er, I didn't mean to. I was just saying I don't think we'll kill you, but…"

There was a vicious snort from behind Daine, but she noted that Allen, whom she could actually see, unlike Kanda, was looking rather sympathetic. She looked to her sister.

"Win…"

Win made a disapproving noise before looking at Daine sadly.

"Sorry, Daine. I'm all the way over here. I can't reach you."

Daine nodded, biting her lip.

"I'm sorry."

Allen, clearly feeling really bad for them, moved towards Kanda and Daine. Komui made no move to stop them as he was clearly lost in some sort of scenario in which some evil captor made _his Lenalee_ cry and he could do nothing about it. Win tried to hide her triumphant smirk. Allen moved a step closer to Kanda, who was holding Daine, and Win reached for her sister. Daine looked up and stretched until her fingertips brushed Win's.

Boom.

There was a sudden rush of power and Win disappeared. Allen looked around wildly as Kanda's sword was knocked from his hand and Daine was taken to Komui's desk. Komui was removed from said place and was sitting on the floor by Allen. Win reclined against his chair and put her feet up on a large stack of paperwork, knocking aside several pens and a few envelopes. Daine sat on the edge of the desk nearest their would-be captors and grinned.

"Right, it's our turn to talk."

Win and Daine nodded rather sagely as they finished telling Lenalee the story. Lenalee was laughing so hard she clutched at her stomach, her face red.

"That's so like you two!"

Allen chuckled, looking rather embarrassed.

"After that they sat us down and explained that they were both exorcists and that they'd come to work here and, well, here we are now."

Lenalee giggled charmingly.

"I'll bet brother had a great time explaining that to every one else."

Said "brother" walked up behind her, resting his chin on her head.

"I didn't hear the end of it for a week! It was awful!"

Allen, Win, and Daine all raised a hand in greeting at Komui. Daine quickly washed down a bite of cheesecake with a gulp of tea. She set her cup down almost forcefully.

"Komui!"

He looked at her.

"Yes?"

She had an aura of excitement about her that everybody noticed. They waited.

"Is it true that Win and I finally get to go on a mission?"

He grinned.

"Yeah, actually. I'm supposed to be calling the four of you down tonight."

Win's mouth popped open.

"'Ooo meenf we gethoo go wif Mawen nd Renlee?"

Daine lightly tapped Win under her chin to get her to shut her mouth as she still had food in it. Win turned slightly pink, but shrugged it off. For a parasite-type, she was a neat eater. Not as much as Daine, but Daine was crazy. Everybody waited for her to translate.

"You mean we get to go with Allen and Lenalee?"

Daine, Lenalee, and Allen all brightened up at this.

"Really?"

Komui let out a nervous laugh.

"Not exactly…"

The four seated at the table were about to ask what he meant when a sudden frigid aura seemed to engulf them and a black clad exorcist seated at the table behind them spoke.

"Stop being so loud. You're ruining my appetite with your whining."

Win looked like she was about to pitch a fit, though her mouth was full of a huge bite of steak. She was turning red. Daine hurriedly pulled on her sleeve to calm her down, but it was hard because she had already been excited by the prospect of finally going on a mission and that excitement had clearly been transferred to getting angry with Kanda.

"Geeh wha erk nuncars owt uuur apty t!"

Komui watched the scene with a building sense of anxiety. It was quickly snuffed, though, by his carefree nature. Either way, he wished to see how this would play out. Kanda, with his back to Daine, whom he was sitting behind, slowly put down the chopsticks with which he was eating his soba.

"My appetite has been ruined by the nonsense ravings of a pig. Thank you."

He stood up to go but that had been the final straw for Win. She swallowed, nearly blue in the face with rage now, and forced him to turn around by grabbing at his shoulder.

"LISTEN, ASSHOLE GIRLY-MAN EXORCIST, I AM NOT A PIG! DAINE, ALLEN AND I ARE PARASITE TYPES WE HAVE TO EAT LOTS OF FOOD TO STAY HEALTHY! AND GUESS WHAT, JERK? NO ONE CARES ABOUT YOUR APPETITE!"

Rather than slice her in half as Allen was rather expecting, Kanda tore her hand off him in a graceful movement and sneered at her.

"It figures that someone like you-an exorcist in name only-would have something to say in defense of eating so much food and never doing work."

It was at this point in time that Win absolutely, positively, and beyond any point of possible return, _snapped_.

"ARGHHHHHH! YOU BLOODY GIT, GET BACK HERE! INNOCENCE INVOCATION!"

She jumped after him with the claws that had promptly grown out of her knuckles. He drew his sword and parried her blow. Daine's face was white, and she turned to Allen helplessly. Her innocence didn't give her any combat ability, or anything useful. She was merely a catalyst.

"Allen, please!"

He nodded.

"Here, Daine, I think I might need your help for this one…"

He held his hand out to her and she took it, allowing him to pull her off the bench. She could see in his eyes that he was worried for Win. He turned around to grin at her.

"How 'bout a piggy back ride?"

Despite the current circumstances, Daine grinned at his choice of words.

"Sure."

He laughed and pulled her onto his back. She made sure to keep a good grip on his left arm, the one that was his anti-akuma weapon.

"Comfortable?"

She giggled slightly.

"You bet. Shall we go stop Win before her and Kanda absolutely demolish our lovely eating area?"

He smiled.

"Sure."

With that Allen invoked his innocence and sprang at the fighting pair. It was clear that Kanda was taunting Win, and that he wasn't fighting very seriously. After a month and a half of snide remarks from the Japanese exorcist, though, Win had clearly had enough. Daine's catalyst powers worked more effectively on Win than they did on anyone else, perhaps because Win was accustomed to it, or perhaps because Daine was closer to her than everyone else. Kanda, though, was a stronger exorcist in his own right, and never failed to remind the angry girl of that. Allen grabbed Win in his hand and Daine jumped off and tried to restrain Kanda. It was difficult, seeing as he was much taller and stronger than her, but Allen had grabbed Win in his hand in a way similar to what he had done when they first arrived at the Black Order's Headquarters and thus Kanda became Daine's problem.

"ALLEN, PUT ME DOWN!"

Win was furious. Allen laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head with his normal hand.

"Sorry, Win. I can't do that right now."

Win glared at him and debated whether or not to sink her claws into his arm. It was Allen, though, so she merely kicked at it. If he didn't wise up and let go, she _would_ stick him, whether he would have to suffer through repairs or not.

"Um, Kanda, please don't hack me into little pieces."

Several feet away, Daine was undergoing a rather different situation. She had grabbed Kanda in the only way she could without risking getting her hands chopped off and whatnot. From behind. It almost looked as though she were hugging him. Kanda's hand quivered on his sword, perhaps as though trying to control the urge to strike her down then and there.

He didn't. All of a sudden, Komui started clapping. Lenalee stared at him rather oddly.

"Brother…why are you clapping?"

He grinned at the almost sheepishly.

"It's nice to see teammates getting along so well, isn't it?"

Allen, Daine, Win, and Kanda all exchanged looks.

"HELL NO!"

The Black Order, Breached/End.


	2. Cruise, Part I

**Chapter 2: To Stay Fit, We EXORCIZE!**

"I'm on a boat and, I'm going fast and…©"

Daine did a little bit of jazz hands to try and spice up her little number. Allen grinned encouragingly and gave her a thumbs up and the corner of Win's lip quirked upward. Kanda glared, stony-faced. It was Win and Daine's first mission, and the first time the four of them worked together. It also wasn't going very well. The three exorcists Daine was trying to cheer up were all a little green around the gills, so to speak, and in awful moods. Allen being the exception, of course. The rocking back and forth of the boat was doing nothing to improve this, though, and neither, it seemed, was Daine. She hung her head low, clearly giving up.

"I'm sorry, I'm not really making anything better, am I? Do you guys need anything…?"

Win shook her head a little violently, perhaps too violently, because she ended up turning a sickly shade of green and taking flight. Daine watched her run off and facepalmed. Kanda, seeing "the annoying pig woman" flee with a hand clamped over her mouth and the other on her stomach, turned his head to the side and might have snickered. Suddenly, he too was green and running off. Daine sweatdropped.

"Um, Allen, will you be okay here?"

Allen nodded, grinning, though a little pale.

"Sure. I don't have it as bad as those two. I'll be fine. You want me to come with you?"

Daine grinned wryly.

"I'm going to go hold their hair back while they throw up. You can help Kanda."

Allen turned a little more green himself. Daine laughed.

"Just kidding! I'll manage. Hopefully, they'll be sick _in turns_."

"It's kinda funny that Kanda hasn't killed either of those two yet. Not for lack of trying, in Win's case," Allen mused to himself, chortling and then abruptly reaching for a bag he was keeping handy, just in case. "Ugh," he remarked, frowning. "I really hate boats."

It wasn't hard for Daine to find her fellow exorcists. Both were hanging over the rail, puking their guts out and muttering insults at each other. Without any sort of greeting, she took a gentle hold of their hair-which had been tied back until the splitting migraines they were both suffering had forced them to let it loose-and pulled it back as best she could to keep it out of their respective ways. When they had finished, for the time being, they walked towards the bathrooms, groaning and (continuing) to curse each other. Daine watched them go, laughing.

"Those two will never change."

She decided that they would be fine once they washed out their mouths and wandered back to Allen. He was still sitting on the bench where she had left him, his innocence-possessing hand over his stomach.

"Allen!"

He turned around and smiled.

"Hey Daine. Where's Win? And, um, Kanda? They didn't shove each other off the boat, did they?"

Daine laughed.

"No, they were just really sick. I see you feel a little bit better?"

He made a thoughtful face.

"I do, actually. I don't know what it is, but my stomach's settled down. Maybe I'm getting used to the rocking motion."

Daine made a face.

"I'm really sorry you three are sick, but at the same time, I'm really glad I'm not. After all, who would take care of those two if I was puking my guts up like them?"

Allen laughed, smiling.

"Definitely not me. I do kinda wonder, though…Have you spent much time on boats and ships and whatnot?"

Daine frowned.

"No, not really. Win has more experience there than I do. I really prefer taking the train."

Allen thought for a moment.

"Oh. I thought maybe that was why you weren't sick."

Daine looked at him thoughtfully.

"I usually get sick like everyone else, I mean, I'm not immune to it or anything. It's kind of odd, though, that the only people on board that are sick are you three. And anyway, the rocking motion has been very mild. It's strange."

Allen contemplated this for a moment, brow furrowed.

"I wonder if its an effect of the innocence here, in the ocean. That's what Komui said, right, there have been strange stories about this sea? Maybe we're getting close to it and its responding to our innocence…?"

Daine nodded eagerly.

"Yes! That must be right! And-"

She broke off for a moment, deciding to test her idea and THEN explain it. She pulled Allen's innocence-possessing hand from his stomach and forced him to hold it out away from him. Allen had a strange expression on his face, as though contemplating her sanity.

"Daine, what are you doing?"

She held up a hand to tell him to wait for a moment.

"I'll explain it in a minute, just trust me."

He nodded. A minute passed. Then two. Then three. He moved his free hand to his stomach. Another minute. Daine grinned at the peaky looking exorcist.

"Alright, invoke your innocence."

"Innocence invocation," he muttered, squirming slightly in his seat.

Daine moved his normal hand from his stomach and replaced it with the huge red one. She waited. Allen's expression changed slowly, but she took it as a confirmation of her theory and grinned.

"Allen, I've found the cure to Win and Kanda's problem! And the explanation as to why the seasickness doesn't bother me!"

He looked intrigued and mentally reviewed her experiment. It clicked.

"Ah, so the innocence…"

"…is the cure! Exactly! The reason why I haven't had any sort of problem is because mine is based throughout my entire body, whereas yours is concentrated in your hand. Your's only helps what it can reach. Win's hasn't been helping her because it's on the BACK of her hands, and so her innocence never touches her upset stomach. Kanda…well, Mugen would hardly help him in this situation, would it?"

"You're right! And I feel so much better! Actually, I don't feel sick at all. How odd. Do you think it's stronger when your innocence isn't invoked? The sickness, I mean?"

"Yes! We should go find Kanda and Win! I'm sure they'll appreciate this tidbit of information!"

There was a sudden scream in the background, quickly joined by another, and Allen and Daine looked at one another. Their eyes met briefly and then they were off running. Allen slowed down suddenly when his hand left his stomach, rapidly turning green, but he shook it off when he replaced his anti-akuma weapon.

"So it only works with direct contact?"

"I guess so."

"That sucks!"

When Kanda and Win had fled to the bathrooms to clean up, they made only one devastating mistake. They were arguing on their way there, no surprise as they had been forced to walk in the same direction by their own stubborn natures that demanded that they go to the closest bathroom. Their little spat, at some point right before the restroom doors, reached its climax and they stomped off in opposite directions to the first bathroom they saw. The only mistake that they made was walking on the wrong side.

"Excuse me, miss, you dropped your-EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK! PERVERT!"

Kanda turned around, staring at the screaming woman. Then-

"Shit."

Win was calmly washing her face, almost bent over the sink. Suddenly, she felt ill again. She bent farther and then puked her guts out with a horrible retching noise. There was a loud, obvious, "Ugh!" in the background. "That's _disgusting_!"

Win turned to glare and then screamed herself. What the hell was she suddenly doing in the men's restroom? And-UGH, THAT PERVERT HAD BEEN WATCHING HER WASH HER FACE BECAUSE IT GAVE HIM A GOOD VIEW OF HER ASS! Cue blood-curling scream.

"INNOCENCE INVOCATION!"

She was planning on clawing the man's face off when suddenly, a blushing Allen put his normal hand on her arm. She wheeled around, went almost instantly GREEN, and swayed.

"Allen?"

He nodded.

"Um, keep your innocence invoked and make it touch your stomach."

"Okay?"

She did so. He waited for a moment while Win righted herself. Her head felt suddenly clearer. What good fortune! They walked out of the bathroom as Allen began to speak.

"Your innocence is counteracting the sickness we've been getting. Daine and I figured it out while we were waiting for you guys."

Win made a face now that she understood and then smirked.

"Ha, I bet Kanda's going to have a fun time figuring out how to tape Mugen to his-"

Right as they walked out the door, they heard another, scream. More of a yelp, really.

"Kanda! Don't-OH MY GOD."

Win went into "kick-Kanda's-ass" mode.

"KANDA WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU-Oh."

Kanda was glaring at her and Allen, _his sword stuck through his stomach_. Allen gaped at him, even as Daine covered her eyes and shook her head. Win was merely surprised.

"Damn, that didn't kill you?"

He glared at her and left. A trail of blood followed him. Daine was freaking out.

"ALLEN! WIN! One of you has to go and get that man first aid. I didn't think that he'd-"

She gave them both a helpless look. More specifically, she gave ALLEN a helpless look. His mouth popped open for a moment, and he scratched his head. Daine waited expectantly for his response. He grinned nervously.

"Um, Daine, I would _love_ to lend you a…helping hand with this, but, um, that's exactly the problem. My hands," he started, waving a huge silver one around briefly before clamping it back onto his stomach, "are a bit too unwieldy for such a…_delicate_ job."

Win smirked.

"I'll do it! I mean, sure, I'll have to fight him one-handed, but he _can't even draw his sword_! I'll tear that bastard up into itsy bitsy little pieces, and we'll see if-"

"NEVER MIND! I'll go…"

Allen grinned happily and turned to give Win a high five as Daine walked off. Win pouted but obliged.

"I was serious. I wanted to kill that jerk."

Allen sweatdropped.

"Why don't we go look for some akuma, yes Win? To take that anger out on?"

Win shot him a breathtakingly exuberant smile.

"Sure!"

Allen nodded and then realized that this was, really, a bad idea. Win fighting one handed without a power boost from Daine? And anyway, what the hell was he going to do, if he had to keep his fighting hand clamped over his stomach? Win skipped off before turning back to face him, a wicked and yet enchanting grin on her face.

"Coming?"

He smiled right back.

"Of course."

While Win and Allen set off to find a few akuma on board to play with, Daine, once again, found herself in a very different situation. Just as Allen had gone into the men's bathroom expecting to find Kanda and bumped into Win instead, so had Daine started walking into the women's room only to literally crash into a very pissed looking Kanda. She had immediately cleared the way for him and explained her and Allen's discovery. She had NOT, however, expected him to stab himself through the stomach with his damn sword!

"Kanda? Are you there?"

She had knocked on his room door a few moments ago hoping to find him but there had been no answer. She had honestly believed he would go to the quiet sanctity of his room after figuring out the cure, but apparently not. She had just turned to leave when the door swung open. Kanda looked even more pissed now than he had coming out of the women's restroom. He glared, clearly not intending to speak. Daine cleared her throat.

"Hi…"

His glare didn't lessen. She decided to just get it all over with.

"Um…When I said that innocence was the key, I didn't mean that you should, well, stab yourself, I mean, we don't think it has to be _in_ your stomach, just so long as it's touching your stomach it should be fine and I came here because, well, _I think you need some immediate medical attention_."

He stared at her for a minute before shutting the door. Daine growled in frustration and pushed her foot inside the room so that it wouldn't close all the way.

"Kanda, please let me help you!"

He pushed harder on the door. Daine winced.

"OW, um, please? Or if you don't want me to do it I'll go get-_OUCH_!-Allen or Win. Just-"

The pressure on her foot was gone and she gently pushed the door open. Kanda was sitting on his bed, glaring.

"Don't send the moyashi or the annoying pig woman here. _Ever_. Or I'll cut you down myself."

Daine sweatdropped.

"Okay then, so how about letting me pull your sword out of you and fixing you up, kinda, so that you actually CAN cut me down?"

He glared, but Daine decided to just go for it. She walked over to him and put both of her hands on the hilt of his sword. He watched her, as though thinking about what horrible death he was planning for her. Slicing? Dicing? Quartering? Or the good old fashion slitting of the throat?

"Um, ready?"

He just glared. Daine took this, also, as a yes and tried to pull out the sword. It wasn't working very well. She cleared her throat awkwardly. He stared. She blushed. He narrowed his eyes. And finally:

"Um, Kanda? Some help, please?"

Allen and Win hadn't had any luck in their stress relief search. Something which the more logical Allen was secretly thankful for. They had, however, decided to celebrate their newly found appetites by eating lots and lots of food. They were, at the moment, enjoying some ice cream together, the Monster Mania Sundae Surprise, to be exact. Hailed as the only ice cream that no man had yet been able to finish in one sitting. When the waiter came by and dropped off someone else's order, Win and Allen grinned at him.

"Two more, please."

Their server gaped. Win fluttered her eyelashes.

"Quickly, yes?"

He nodded and scurried off. Win turned back to Allen, with who she was sharing the little café type table. Piles of dishes sat between them. That ice cream never stood a chance. The two exorcists had definitely worked up an appetite with all of the running around they'd been doing. Trying to find some akuma to completely and totally OWN, of course. They had even discovered parts of the ship they hadn't known existed! Like that one room where all of these fat people jogged on some sort of machine. It was very odd, seeing as no matter at what speed the people went, they never seemed to be going anywhere. They had just been discussing this strange practice when Daine came running up to them.

"Allen! Win!"

They turned to her just as an awed waiter brought them more ice cream. Win smiled.

"Daine!"

She turned to the waiter.

"One more for my friend, please."

Daine shook her head.

"No time! I signed us up for a yoga session. We have to be there, like, now!"

"What the hell is yoga?"

"Some way to exorcize, apparently."

"Let's go!"

To Stay Fit, We Exorcize/End.


	3. Cruise, Part II

**Chapter 3: Rainbows Aren't the Happy Symbols of Adolescence We Thought They Were…**

A cold wind seemed to blow towards Daine as the three other exorcists glared at her from their yoga mats. An icy gale, perhaps. She shivered. How was she supposed to know that yoga was a form of "exercising" and not "exorcizing." Everyone else had thought it was a good idea at the time, anyway. So it wasn't _really_ her fault. How had they ended up like this, anyway? Oh, yes, that's right…

When they entered the yoga room, they knew at once that something was wrong. There weren't any akuma, for one, and it is a generally accepted rule of thumb among exorcists that exorcizing generally requires some form of thing to exorcize. Another, a woman introduced herself to them as their "teacher." Why would fully-fledged exorcists need a _teacher_? The woman immediately assigned each of them to a mat and told them to wait. The following two hours would end up being a shocking insight into the notion of "cruel and unusual punishment" that the naïve, young exorcists had never seen coming.

Win was perspiring. In fact, had she been aware of anything but the horrific pain in her back, she might have had the sense of mind to be scared of simply dissolving.

"Good, now, imagine that your belly button is free of the chains of gravity…your hands and feet are like the trunks of trees, firmly rooted in the earth…"

The teacher, a tall, thin woman with a face oddly reminiscent of a frog's and legs to match, poked Win in the stomach, HARD. Win groaned, keeping her hand on her stomach to prevent seasickness. She didn't know how much more of this she could take. The woman walked around her, inspecting her posture.

"You are 'the Rainbow,' a gentle arch that climbs high into the sky…"

Gentle arch Win's ass! She was doing a backbend on the tips of her fingers of one hand and the tips of her toes. She was stretched out like a rubber band…or like people put through the rack, a medieval _torture_ device. Yes, maybe the latter was a more suitable analogy.

"Now, breathe in deeply and count to ten. One…two…three…four…five…six…seven…"

Win was practically turning purple here. Her fingers were feeling the strain, and the sweat that was running down her arms was making her fingers slip on the stupid yoga mat. Why the hell did she have to do "the Rainbow," anyway? What. The. Hell.

"Maintain your position, dear, while I go to help the next one…"

She strolled off, her breezy voice fading as she did so. Win, in her upside down field of vision, noticed Allen looking at her with sympathy and Kanda snickering in his own, expressionless way. She closed her eyes and concentrated on not going on a killing rampage of sorts. ANYTHING would be better than the suffering she was enduring now! Her muscles were literally shaking in protest, and the salty droplets of sweat running down her face were stinging her eyes. It was at this point in time that Win knew for a fact that she hated yoga.

The teacher did indeed move onto the next one. Daine ended up laying on her back, her hands draped over her collarbone, her knees slightly turned inwards and her feet further apart. The yoga instructor looked at her disapprovingly.

"How is it possible, girl, that you cannot even manage 'The Playful Wolf Cub?' Such a simple position!"

Daine squeaked as the woman forcibly moved her feet further apart. Her knees had automatically bent to try and preserve her decency, as her exorcist uniform consisted of a short-but-not-_that_-short dress, as opposed to pants or what Win was wearing, shorts that cleared the bottom hem of a skirt-like over-garment by a good few inches. The yoga teacher didn't seem to mind.

"Spread your legs further apart! It's crucial to the position!"

Allen made the mistake of looking over from his mat at such an…odd exclamation. At first, all he saw was the yoga instructor bent over Daine. And then, apparently satisfied, or perhaps giving up, their teacher stood up abruptly and moved away. At this point, Allen turned a fiery red and immediately looked away. Why? Because his mat was directly below Daine's and he risked having a too-good view. He cleared his throat awkwardly. Kanda glared at him, if only as a way to turn his attention from Daine, whose mat was across from him.

Both boys were thinking something along the same lines: Since when had baby wolves made poses that looked specifically designed to seduce every guy that came along? Daine's pose was, indeed, so suggestive that Allen-who had averted his eyes from a side view of Win's "Rainbow" because he found it too risqué-chose instead to focus his gaze on her once more. Really, to avoid looking at Daine, he could either look at Win or Kanda. It was a clear choice. Kanda, though, probably wouldn't have noticed if Allen had chosen to force himself to stare at him. The bad-tempered exorcist was standing with his arms crossed, glaring at the ceiling and muttering under his breath. No one caught what he was saying.

"You there, with the white hair…Yes, you shall be next."

Allen nearly jumped four feet off his mat-no easy feat considering that he was sitting cross-legged. The teacher immediately came over and gave him a shrewd look-over.

"Young man…might you be able to do pushups?"

Allen looked at her, rather concerned, before nodding.

"Sure I can. Um, why?"

The teacher moved her head, once, sharply in what MIGHT have been a nod.

"Demonstrate."

Out of habit, Allen got into a handstand on his thumbs and did his pushups that way. It would turn out to be an awful mistake. When he had done a few just to prove he could the yoga teacher immediately started muttering something about "a real challenge" and assigned him a position called "The Break-dancer." When she had stalked off to her next and final victim, Allen was left balancing on one thumb, his legs forming a right triangle parallel to the ground with his free hand trapped in a peace sign. Daine and Win stared at him for a moment, appalled. Win thought that his pose was ridiculous and that he might hurt his thumb! Daine made a mental note to get some hot water and towels to ease the horrible ache Allen was bound to have in his back, twisted about as it was and bent to the side. She spared Win a glance and then made another mental note-to do the same for Win.

Win, having already fretted about Allen's thumb, had now turned her thoughts to Kanda with glee, anxiously awaiting the punishment he would soon receive. Let none have the audacity to think that she had missed his quiet snickering earlier-Win practically had a built in sensor that alerted her whenever Kanda was mocking her. The torture he would, no doubt, soon be assigned was one of the greatest gifts karma could give to Win. The teacher walked once around Kanda, inspecting him. Win sniggered. The teacher, then, clapped her hands loudly, stopping in front of him.

"You seem to be the perfect candidate for 'The Heavenly Swordsman…'"

Win vaguely wondered if it had anything to do with _the sword at his waist_ but just waited. Kanda glared at the woman, not bothering to shake his head.

"No. I'm not moving."

The yoga instructor looked him up and down once more and suddenly let out a delighted peal of breezy laughter. It was an awful sound to Win. Still, she waited. The teacher clapped suddenly before turning to the other three exorcists.

"You see? This is what you should aspire to! Such excellent form! Such dedication! A mastery of a truly difficult pose!"

Win's jaw would have dropped to the floor had her face not been upside down. As it was, it might have touched the ceiling.

"What pose? 'The Angry Girly-Man?'"

If the teacher heard her, she must have ignored her, because she continued practically singing Kanda's praise.

"The crossed arms, the firmly planted feet! Why, I have never seen 'The Mountain' so perfectly executed in my entire life!"

Kanda, with a pointed look at Win that clearly read that _he_ had heard her disparaging comment, turned to the yoga-instructor frog-woman and said, "thank you."

Much to Win's disappointment, the teacher didn't seem to catch the blatant sarcasm and animosity in his tone because she melted. Once again, to the _unfortunate_ Win's disappointment, "melted" didn't mean that out of nowhere someone threw a bucket of water on their teacher and she disintegrated well and properly, but rather that she "melted" as in "swooned" and turned a bright, blazing red and looked as though she would, at any moment, throw herself at Kanda's feet and screech, "TAKE ME!"

It seemed that Win was not the only one who realized this because Kanda looked as though he were itching to unsheathe Mugen and hack the woman into a thousand pieces. Though Win had been hoping that Kanda would have to suffer as she and Allen, and Daine, in a way, she was well-enough satisfied with this fascinating turn of events and was content to watch as the yoga instructor took in a sharp breath, her muddy brown eyes shining with Kanda's perturbed reflection. Allen, still standing on his thumb, looked positively baffled as to how-even such a horrible, sadistic woman as their teacher was-_any_ human of the gentle persuasion-the gentle persuasion meaning a woman, of course-could possibly have "the hots" for Kanda. It was beyond his comprehension.

Apparently, it was also beyond the comprehension of Kanda himself, because his gaze lifted for a moment to the girl across from him before returning to glare at the frog woman, as he had dubbed her in his mind. He had a most excellent reason to chop her into little bits, as far as he was concerned, in that other stupid yoga pose alone and the difficulty he was having in not looking at it-the shrewd would understand this-and his hand was itching to take the hilt of Mugen in an iron grip and slash at the air until he was satisfied.

He was saved from the charge of the murder of the yoga teacher by Allen's shout of "Daine, watch out!" and the consequent yelp that came from said female exorcist.

A crowd of akuma burst in through the door, a blade-like appendage tearing through the mat which Daine had been laying on, missing her by literally a few inches. She had rolled away in the nick of time, and the akuma's scythe-shaped arm rose once more.

"INNOCENCE, INVOCATE!"

Allen had taken the initiative, as the first person to spot the akuma, and jumped to Daine's rescue. He parried the akuma's blow with his anti-akuma weapon and used his free hand to help Daine stand up. Before anyone had a chance to do anything, Kanda, eager to vent his frustration, had already leapt into the air, with his invocated weapon and was coming down on the akuma with a frightening looking concentration. Win had already engaged another akuma, as several of them were making their way through the door. She swiped at its arm with the claws that had grown out of her knuckles, her innocence, gritting her teeth.

"How did they get here so fast?"

Allen tore through a third akuma, as Kanda had taken the responsibility of the first off his shoulders.

"They must have been hiding in the waiting room! I saw them posing as the a group of people waiting for their turn in the gym. And then-"

The akuma he was fighting disintegrated. Allen wheeled around just in time to jump out of the way of a barrage of bullets, sent his way by two akuma that had just entered. He engaged the two with a swipe of his hand.

"A bunch of them showed up in front of the ones posing as people and attacked Daine!"

A wave of nausea took over him and he staggered back, barely lifting his hand up to shield himself in time. He glanced at Win, who was viciously clawing at the akuma in front of her. She was closest to the door and was starting to be pushed back. Every time she managed to take an akuma down, more flooded through the door to take its place. Kanda was struggling against a Level 2 akuma, faltering in his movements. And Daine-where was Daine?

"WIN! HELP!"

Though it wasn't him that was called, Allen swiveled around, too quickly, it seemed, as he promptly was hit with the urge to throw up. Dane had been picked up by another akuma, a Level 2, and it wasn't the one that Kanda was currently fighting. He swore and scrambled up to help her.

Suddenly, she turned white and Allen looked behind him to see what had scared her. Kanda had been thrown to the ground. He wasn't looking too good at all. Win too, had been driven back-she had been thrown across the room with such force it was a miracle she hadn't hit the wall. The akuma were gaining. Another wave of dizziness hit Allen and his knees buckled. There were too many.

"ALLEN! WATCH OUT!"

He raised his arm slowly, but just in time. The akuma were swarming around the exorcists. Allen gritted his teeth and threw himself into the fight. Daine was still in the akuma's grip. It was taunting her.

"Fight me, little exorcist! Or I shall kill all your friends!"

Daine winced but thought quickly-it had been toying with her for a few minutes, clearly trying to goad her into a fight. Perhaps she could turn its strategy against it, and get him to let her go. She needed to get to one of the others to do the only thing she was good for.

"No! I won't fight an akuma like you. You're not worth my time! I mean, you can hardly even pick me up, even less do so much as throw me across the room!"

The akuma might have glared at her, but she wasn't sure.

"What are you talking about, little exorcist? Can't you see how much power I've got?"

Daine shook her head, glancing back at her friends out of the corner of her eye and fighting to keep the tremor out of her voice. Things weren't going well for the exorcists at all. In a fair fight, things would have been different. But the seasickness was acting up as soon as they took their innocence off their stomachs.

"Nope, not at all. I'd only be able to tell if your were strong if you could throw me as far as that lame level 1 threw my friend. But I know you're weaker. After all, level 2 means second place right?"

She had been trying to make it angry and it seemed that she succeeded.

"I'll show you, little exorcist!"

The akuma lifted her up and hurled her across the room.

"See? See? That was easy! I am the strongest akuma!"

Daine coughed, rolling on her side. Daine 1, Akuma 0.

"Win!"

Her friend turned around, one hand on her stomach, the other swiping wildly at an attacking akuma.

"Daine! Are you-"

"You look like you could use a little pick-me-up."

Win grinned in relief, nimbly dancing over to where Daine lay. At least, that's what her graceful twirls and claw swipes and lunges and kicks appeared to be. A dance.

"You bet I could! You want to go anywhere after this?"

Daine nodded, lifting her arm. Win backed up so that she could reach it without having to use her hands, as one was busy warding off akuma and the other was clamped over her stomach. Daine reached forward a little until she took hold of Win's ankle, just for a moment.

"Yes, please. To Allen or Kanda."

There was a sudden eruption of power and Win leapt forward in a flash, her claws longer, now, glinting as she slashed at three akuma that had been closing in on them. There were three small explosions and the akuma crumbled to dust. She disappeared in a flash, and with no more than a strong jolt, Daine was dropped off literally on Allen's back. Win took over fighting the akuma around them for a minute. Daine held onto Allen so that she could stand.

"Allen, put your hand on your stomach."

He did as she said.

"Right, this should help, after, take me to Kanda, please?"

She was sounding a bit tired, and Allen nodded with a solemn smile.

"Sure."

Her fingers skimmed his arm and he too felt the sudden rush of strength. He used his cannon-like innocence to clear a path between the akuma, a more direct tactic than Win's elegant zigzagging dance. He did as Daine had asked and took her over to where Kanda was fighting the first Level 2. She was quiet on his back. Allen frowned at this, but went on.

"Hey Kanda!"

The Japanese exorcist turned around. Allen motioned at Daine on his back.

"Daine told me to bring her to you."

He raised an eyebrow but jumped back to where Allen was as he evaded the scythe-like arm that had first attacked Daine. Daine, who had closed her eyes, slipped off Allen as best she could. The moment her feet touched the ground her knees gave out. Allen caught her, pulling her back as akuma came at them. He passed her to Kanda, jumping at the closest akuma. Daine shivered slightly and grabbed Kanda's shoulder.

"Put Mugen on your stomach."

Rather than complain, Kanda did as she suggested, gritting his teeth. Daine, her eyes still closed and her knees trembling from strain, moved her hand up his shoulder, as if searching for his face. The pale white skin of her wrist eventually brushed his jaw. Just as with Allen and Win, there was a sudden disturbance in the air and Mugen glowed all the more brightly. Kanda turned to glare at oncoming akuma.

Behind him, without his support to stand, Daine fell. Elsewhere, a rather stupid Level 2 akuma was searching for his prey.

"Little exorcist! Little exorcist, where are you hiding? Did my strength scare you away? Don't worry…_I promise not to take it easy on you_."

Just as Kanda leapt forward to engage the Level Two with the scythe-like arms, Allen the one who was coming after Daine, and Win a group of new akuma freshly in the door, the worst happening yet occurred. There were two sudden rushes of air and gleeful cackling. Allen and Kanda paused for a moment to inspect the damage. The tide of the battle, never in their favor, had gone from simply being against them to being completely over their heads.

"LEVEL UP! LEVEL UP!"

A brand new Level 2 akuma was to Win's right.

"WEEEEEEEE! LEVEL UP!"

Another one popped up to her left. Allen barely had the presence of mind to save himself from a nasty blow. The akuma that was after Daine seemed to have some special ability to adjust its body weight. In other words, all of his blows were of lead. Allen gritted his teeth as the akuma's hand, weighing, quite possible, a literal ton, came down on him.

There were now four Level 2 akuma in the yoga classroom. More regular akuma were pouring in through the door. The power they had received from Daine was coursing through their veins, and somehow was keeping the seasickness at bay. Regardless, though, they were hopelessly outnumbered and an exorcist down. Win, the only one with two anti-akuma weapons, as well as the one who best synthesized the energy given to her by Daine, parried simultaneous blows from the brand new Level 2's. Her feet tore up the floor as the force of their attacks pushed her back. She was lucky to have claws on both hands, but even then…

"Crap."

Rainbows Aren't the Happy Symbols of Adolescence We Thought They Were…/End.


	4. Cruise, Part III

**Chapter 4: Outnumbered, noun. Also see 'about to DIE.'**

"Allen! Where's Daine?"

Win was barely holding off two akuma, even with a power up from Daine. She knew, though, that transferring any sizeable amount of power to one person was draining. To give her power to three people must have rendered Daine unconscious, at least. To her surprise, it was Kanda that answered.

"She's here."

Win made the mistake of glancing at him in surprise and was sent flying across the room, a nasty gash in her right leg, the product of one of the level 2's ability to use sound waves to slice people into ribbons. Win groaned as she picked herself up, dodging a lesser akuma and turning her focus once more on the two more dangerous ones.

"Give her to Allen, or bring her here! I won't let her get killed."

She heard Kanda shout something incoherent at the akuma and then heard his voice again, closer, now.

"Neither will I. She's cured my seasickness and given me more strength. I owe her for today."

It was true, he had her draped on his back, and as far as Win could see, unhurt. Though it pained her to admit it, and when the word "pained" is used, it isn't used lightly because she truly hated the man, Kanda was a stronger exorcist, and the only thing that gave her an upper hand was Daine's power. It affected her more strongly than it did anyone else because she had been with Daine the longest and knew her best, thus allowing her to fuse Daine's strength with her own more efficiently.

"Having…a party…without me?"

Allen was out of breath, but Win found his presence reassuring. The three were back to back, almost, in a little defensive triangle shape. They were surrounded by four Level 2 akuma, with regular akuma lurking behind their more fearsome counterparts, waiting for a chance to slip in and strike. They were tiring, and though the energy they had received from Daine was keeping the seasickness away, injuries they'd sustained while fighting were wearing them down, slowly at first, but now all too quickly.

"LITTLE EXORCIST, I SEE YOU!"

The Level 2 that Allen was fighting abruptly swatted him away and attacked Kanda. No, not Kanda…Daine, who Kanda had on his back, unconscious. Kanda was unprepared for the sudden attack. He was stuck parrying another level 2's arm with his sword, his free hand making sure he didn't accidentally drop Daine.

While one hand was enough to stop Daine from falling, it wasn't nearly enough to stop Daine from being torn out of Kanda's grip like a rag doll.

"LITTLE EXORCIST, NOW YOU WILL DIE! KYAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Kanda turned around suddenly, as if in a delayed reaction to the akuma taking Daine. Allen struggled to his feet. Win suddenly cried out, and the lesser akuma took advantage of what seemed like the time to take a breath to surge forward, squeezing between their superior comrades to fight the exorcists. The Level 2 that could change the weight and density of its body and had it out for Daine held her out in front of it and turned its free hand to lead.

"Bye-bye little exorcist!"

The leaden hand was raised and when it came down it came down with such force that there was something equivalent to an explosion. Though the other three were fighting for their lives, it was a moment no one missed. Win shouted something incoherent, staring at the sudden cloud of smoke in nothing less than true fear. And then, just as suddenly, the puff of smoke cleared and something was seen disintegrating.

"Wow. You leave your kids unattended for just _one minute_ and everything goes to ruin. Next time I visit the snack bar, I'm definitely getting you four a babysitter."

An unconscious Daine draped over his back, a wide grin on his face, and his trusty, ridiculously large hammer resting against his shoulder, _he_ was indeed a sight for sore eyes. The Level 2 that had tried to smash Daine into a liquid pulp was gone.

"LAVI?"

"STRIKE! HELLO, YU! Oh, and HI, ALLEN! HI, WIN! HI, DAINE-oh dear, she's not looking too good is she?"

"DON'T CALL ME YU, IDIOT!"

"Nice to see you too, Kanda!"

It truly was something incredible, the way these battle-hardened exorcists managed to shout small talk at one another from across the yoga-classroom-battlefield. With Lavi's presence, a morale booster (or, in Kanda's case, a new reason to need to take out frustration on akuma) in itself, the four exorcists made relatively short work of the remaining akuma. It had gone from four Level 2 akuma against three weary exorcists to three Level 2 akuma against three weary exorcists and a fresh reinforcement. (The lesser akuma in the background didn't really count, because all of the exorcists were focused on the Level 2 akuma).

Eventually, the yoga classroom was silent.

"Whew! That was quite a workout."

Kanda and Win, united in purpose, glared at Lavi. Allen just sort of stepped to the side to check on Daine. The red-headed exorcist grinned sheepishly at them.

"So, how's your vacation been so far?"

He was lucky, very lucky, that Allen chose that point to worriedly ask Win why Daine wasn't waking up. Why? Because nothing, _nothing_ on earth is more frightening than Kanda and Win agreeing on something that will involve a slow, painful death for the pity-inspiring fool who had the misfortune to piss them off while they were still powered up with Daine's energy. Win hurried over to where Allen had set Daine down, and Kanda, feeling indebted to the girl who cured his seasickness, allowed Lavi to steer him over there as well, just to make sure she hadn't, say, _died_. Win frowned.

"What's wrong, Allen?"

Allen looked from her to Daine, concern written on his face.

"She's not waking up!"

Win's eyebrows furrowed.

"What's your point?"

He gaped at her, incredulously.

"Don't you care about her? What if she doesn't wake up?"

Win rolled her eyes at him.

"Of course I care. You just don't appreciate how much energy she gave us. It's hard on her. Let her sleep. It's not like she's magically going to wake up the second the battle's over."

Allen looked almost confused.

"Isn't that what they do in all the stories, though?"

Kanda glared at him, finished with the whole scene.

"That's why they're called stories, moyashi. This is reality. Everything isn't timed to fit in with a plot."

"Yu, you're so wise!"

Win sweatdropped as she watched Kanda try to strangle Lavi. It did her soul good to see Kanda pissed off. Maybe one day that vein in his forehead would just burst and he'd bleed to death. Ah, well, a girl could dream.

Eventually, Win and Kanda got down to grilling Lavi on why he was on the ship with them and discovered quite a few things. Firstly, that the yoga class was an ambush. Which, had Daine been awake, she would have no doubt been pleased to know about. Why? Because she _had_ in fact read "exorcizing" on the paper that advertised the yoga session, not "exercising." Thus she couldn't be blamed for making a careless mistake, not that anyone would have accused her of it, with the possible exception of Kanda. Secondly, that the whole cruise liner was a setup. Apparently, the leads on the strange things happening in the area had reached the ears of the Millennium Earl, but the akuma he had previously sent weren't able to retrieve it.

This is where the exorcists came in. The plan was, have whoever the Black Order sent retrieve the innocence and then steal it from them and kill the exorcists before the ship landed at a stop. Allen and Win exchanged worried glances, and Win slammed a fist down on the table that they were sitting around, with the exception of Daine, who was laying down, still unconscious.

"I don't get it, how could the Millennium Earl predict what ship we were going to take? It doesn't make sense!"

Lavi laughed at that, scratching his head a bit awkwardly.

"Actually, he didn't. He just assumed-correctly-that we'd get put on the cheapest one."

There was a moment of silence before Win retreated with a dark expression to Allen's bed, on which Daine lay. They had chosen to meet up in Allen's room because it was a sort of neutral ground. Meaning that Win wouldn't stand to have Kanda in hers and vice versa. Allen took over asking questions from there.

"Lavi, why are _you_ here, then?"

The red-headed exorcist shrugged.

"I dunno, Komui or someone must have figured out what was going on somehow, because the next thing I know I'm on a train and then getting onboard at the ship's second stop."

Kanda glared at him.

"What exactly are you supposed to be doing here? And that stop was ages ago. Why are we only seeing your stupid rabbit face now?"

Lavi sweatdropped.

"I missed you too, Yu."

Kanda's hand twitched on his sword, but Allen intervened by skillfully changing the subject.

"Say, Lavi, why is it that you're not seasick?"

This was indeed a question Kanda deemed worthy of putting off Lavi's execution. His hand moved away from his anti-akuma/Lavi/Win weapon and he settled into his chair. Kanda was, after all, the one who had suffered the most from the seasickness, besides Win, but the way he saw it, having to be near her while she was sick was suffering enough. Lavi, oblivious to the hostility even radiating from Allen, who had thrown up over the side of the boat as well, though not as frequently as Kanda and Win, looked at them, confused.

"Seasick? How can you be seasick on such a smooth running ship? I mean, sure the passage was the cheapest one Komui could find, but it's not like you're riding in some little dinghy."

The murderous aura that lashed back and forth around Lavi could not be ignored. Kanda, Allen, and Win were able to understand that Daine didn't share in their suffering because her innocence was spread throughout her entire body, somehow, but the idea that Lavi, with his "stupid hammer" could go unaffected by the seasickness was simply too much.

Lavi, sensing their mood, laughed sheepishly.

"Just kidding! Nah, Komui gave me some pills to help settle my stomach. I guess he figured I might have a problem."

There was a ringing of metal suddenly drawn, and to Allen's surprise, it wasn't Kanda for once. Win glared at Lavi, her claws glinting wickedly in the dim light.

"And why on earth did you not think of _sharing those pills with us_?"

Lavi chuckled.

"I forgot."

Win suddenly leapt at him, her claws narrowly missing the redhead in a furious swipe.

"WAIT! YU, SAVE ME!"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

Allen sweatdropped as he watched Lavi be chased around by the two angry exorcists.

"GET BACK HERE!"

"NO! 'Cause then you might HURT me!"

"THAT'S THE IDEA, IDIOT!"

The small bedchamber most definitely wasn't large enough for this. Or sturdy enough.

"Guys…you're going to punch a hole in the side of the ship and sink it."

Naturally, he was ignored. Behind him, there was a faint stirring noise and a sigh.

"Allen?"

Surprised, he turned back only to see Daine blinking blearily at him, her hair near fallen out of it's messy, spiked bun, the jeweled chopsticks she used to keep it up loose and slipping onto the pillow as she lifted her head. Lavi apparently decided to take a break from fleeing for his life because he suddenly jumped on Allen's bed and hugged Daine in an almost too friendly manner.

"DAINE!"

"Lavi? What happened?"

Lavi opened his mouth to explain but at this point, Kanda and Win had caught up to him, and thus he was torn from Daine's arms and hauled away, probably to be thrown off the side of the boat. Allen decided to just leave things as they were.

"Long story short, we were losing, an akuma almost killed you, Lavi saved you, and then we killed all of the akuma and whatnot."

Daine nodded, twisting her barely-long-enough hair into a little knot and replacing her chopsticks. She sat up a little too quickly and swayed dizzily.

"Are you alright, Daine?"

She nodded.

"Just peachy. Actually…I'm kind of starving."

Allen laughed.

"I'll run off and tell the others you've gone to get food. Or should I come with you?"

"No, no, I'm fine. Thanks, though, Allen."

"No problem! I'll see you later, then."

Daine waved cheerily and carefully exited the room. Or at least tried to.

"Oh, no you don't."

Lavi had happily taken possession of her arm.

"No one is going anywhere alone until we find the innocence and get off this boat. We're going to have to buddy up, a pair of two and one of three, I think. It's not safe to go around without backup. Not with what we saw earlier."

Daine nodded.

"That's wise, I think. Who's with who?"

Lavi grinned.

"You can be with me and those other three can have each other."

"HELL NO, I'M PAIRING UP WITH DAINE. IT SHOULD BE SPLIT BY BOYS AND GIRLS."

Win glared at Lavi, not approving of his plan at all. Daine considered her words.

"That would be appropriate, I think. Because if we can't walk around alone, I don't think it's smart to split up at night when we go to our rooms. So we should share, and it makes more sense if we split up by gender."

Surprising everyone, it was Allen who came up with a counterargument for that.

"Shouldn't we pair up by strength? So that the teams are equal in case of an attack? Because if Win and Daine are attacked, well, I just think that their combined strength isn't the same as the combined strength of Lavi, me, and Kanda."

Win's expression darkened and yet somehow, she managed to look almost amused when she turned to Allen, her eyes hidden in the shadow of her hair, her lips curled into a cruel grin.

"You wouldn't be implying that we're weak, now, _would you_?"

Allen jumped back, shaking his head almost violently in denial. It was odd…for a moment there, Win had carried a sort of force behind her voice that reminded him of…no, it couldn't be. It was better not to think about it. He might have nightmares…or worse.

"N-no! Not at all! I was just saying that, um-"

Kanda glared at Win.

"He was simply telling you not to be stupid. A team consisting of you and Daine would be at a severe disadvantage. For one, Daine can't fight. She can give you her energy, but she can't watch your back. Daine should be paired with the strongest team, on the team of three."

Lavi grinned.

"Exactly! Daine should be with the strongest person, so she'll definitely be on my team. Win, you can have Kanda and Allen."

Win glared at him.

"No, I can have Daine and Allen. You can have Kanda! Isn't he your best friend or something?"

Allen watched them fight for a few minutes, then turning to watch Daine and Kanda leave, _then_ deciding it was time to make Lavi and Win aware of how the teams were apparently being laid out.

"Hey, guys?"

"WHAT?"

Silent, mainly because he was surprised by their simultaneous outburst, Allen pointed in the direction of the door. The teams had been decided. Lavi and Win glared at each other, and somehow, Allen found himself wishing he was on Kanda's team. Then again…maybe not.

Outnumbered, noun. Also see 'about to DIE.'/End.


	5. Cruise, Part IV

**Chapter 5: The Night of Lost Innocence**

The evening had been uneventful. Calm. Daine, who had been feeling faint from hunger because of the strain of lending her power to three different people, had been satisfied by dinner, which she had gone out to get with Kanda as an escort. He'd said he owed her, apparently. It made Daine laugh, because he was being almost _nice_. When they had come back from feeding poor, starving Daine, they had found a note addressed to them, which basically said that her and Kanda were a team. Kanda took one look at the note and threw it away. He really didn't care about whatever Win and Lavi had to say to him about sharing a room.

"Kanda…?"

He grunted in response. Daine sweatdropped at his apparent animosity.

"Um, where are we staying tonight?"

Kanda stared at her. He had, in truth, completely forgotten about this part of the "team" thing. All he had really considered was the fact that Daine might be the most barely tolerable person on this trip, perhaps even at the Black Order's headquarters. And of course, the fact that he did not want to be paired up with Win, who was the least tolerable of all living creatures on the planet. She had actually succeeded in one-upping Lavi, a feat he had not believed anyone could accomplish. Lavi was another person he didn't want to be paired up with. Along with Allen. Yes, Allen got on his nerves too. Stupid little bean sprout.

"I don't care."

Daine laughed nervously. What an answer. She knew, she just knew that regardless of what she decided, he was going to have a problem with it. And she had to face the facts, what were the odds of her sleeping with Kanda viciously glaring at her all night? None. Well, if she was going to get silently chewed out, she might as well do so in her own room, where she was more comfortable. At least that way Kanda wouldn't complain about her invading his privacy or something like he probably would if she picked his room.

"Would you mind sleeping in my room?"

All she received was a grunt in response. Feeling rather defeated, and still stinging from his comment about her uselessness in battle, she hung her head and led the way. She was useless and she knew it, and it wasn't fair to the others that she was such a burden on them. Worn down by such pessimistic thoughts, she trudged along, unaware of Kanda's curious stare.

"ALRIGHT, A SLUMBER PARTY!"

"Lavi, calm down…"

Win watched Allen chase Lavi around said redheaded exorcist's room, twitching.

"Just how did I get stuck rooming with that idiot, again?"

Ideally, she wanted to be paired up with Allen and Daine, but things didn't really work out. Lavi was jumping on his bed, bouncing rather high for a grown man. Win silently wished the bed would break or something. No, that he'd bounce to high and hit his head on the ceiling. The bed was actually comfortable, and she had every intention of sleeping comfortably on it tonight. So she didn't want him to break it.

"Lavi, why are we in your room, anyway?"

He stopped bouncing and looked at her happily.

"Because Allen's is tiny and cheap, and I knew you wouldn't want me in yours."

Win had no way to argue against that. Allen frowned suddenly.

"Wait a second, why is _my_ room tiny and cheap? I just noticed that…This room is huge! And Win said mine was cramped! Why is that?"

Lavi laughed in the sort of way that one might expect him to suddenly whip out a folding fan to cover his mouth with.

"Because it's youuuuuuuu."

Allen glared at him. Win sighed. Tonight seemed as though it would be a long night.

"Um, Kanda?"

There was a grunt in reply. Daine sweatdropped.

"Where should I put my things?"

He glared at her.

"Put them wherever you want to. I'm not going to do it for you."

Daine was beginning to feel a little bit ticked off by the way he was treating her. It wasn't like she had asked for this, and it was his own fault for choosing her as his partner! Deep down, Daine knew that he had picked her because she was the least offensive of the group, in his mind, at least, but she was feeling irritated and thus felt that he genuinely hated her.

"That wasn't what I meant. I only wanted to know where I could set it down so that it wouldn't disturb you, but-"

She bit her tongue before she could say something rude. Kanda looked at her for a moment before harrumphing and turning back to cleaning his sword.

"In the corner. It's less bothersome if you set it in the corner."

Daine stared at his back for a moment before smiling slightly.

"Okay. In the corner it is."

She quietly set down her things in the place he had specified and for some reason felt a little sad. Her things were just in the way. Like she was. Suddenly morose, she sat down in the same place, on the floor, sighing. She really was in the way. All she ever did was need rescuing and she hated it. What was the point of having Innocence if you couldn't even use it to help your friends? Useless. That's what she was.

"Quit brooding."

Biting her lip, Daine glanced up at Kanda, whose methodical movements, wiping Mugen with a neat cloth, had stopped. There was an odd brand of silence in the air, as though he were pausing with the intention to say something else but never quite finished. Daine shrugged and didn't say anything, rather looking around the room curiously. Everything was rather neat, and Kanda's things weren't strewn all over the place, like they were in her room.

She frowned, suddenly. How had they ended up in Kanda's room, anyway? Daine had intended to have them stay in hers, but when they got there, Kanda had simply told her to gather her things quickly. When she had done so, he led her away, and she vaguely wondered when the plan had changed.

When she was silent, Kanda sheathed his now, admittedly, exceptionally clean sword and turned to her frowning.

"Why are you sitting on the floor?"

Daine started, surprised by the sound of his voice.

"Um, because you were on the bed?"

He raised an eyebrow at that, itching to draw his sword and start polishing it again.

"Don't be an idiot."

Daine stared at him for a moment, and he felt like she was testing him to see how far she could push him before he would explode. Then, seemingly realizing that he was beginning to find her behavior irksome, she jumped up and sat on the very corner of his bed. Awkwardly. Kanda jaw tightened as he decided to simply give up and go back to polishing the perfectly shiny Mugen. He had a feeling that it would be very clean by the time morning came.

Daine sweatdropped as she watched him.

"Um, Kanda?"

He grunted without looking at her. She watched him some sort of fascination.

"Are you planning on _blinding_ the akuma when you draw your sword or something? Because-"

He shut her up with a vicious glare. Daine, suddenly feeling rather uncomfortable, looked away from him. It wasn't his fault, though. Not entirely, at least. She just wasn't used to people. Other than Win, of course. And-damn. The surly exorcist next to her was radiating murderous vibes. Surely he wouldn't intentionally harm a fellow exorcist. Daine thought about that and sighed in dry resignation. She was useless, and quite frankly, even she would have to admit to being of less use against the Millennium Earl than a finder. Which was just sad. In her mind's eye, she saw Kanda strangling a finder for putting him off his food with his "noise."

Perhaps the disquieted feeling in her stomach wasn't all too off the mark.

"You should sleep soon."

Bewildered, Daine blinked at him, wondering who he was and what he had done with the real Kanda. Her soft grey eyes met his condescending stare and she suddenly felt more at ease. He stared at her for a moment before snorting in disapproval, going back to wiping down his sword.

"You won't be able to use your power effectively if you're not at full strength. You should always be prepared for an attack."

Daine was suddenly struck with a sense of guilt. She felt as though the narrowed eyes that were, at the moment, watching her were saying something different. Something more like _if you had kept yourself at full strength, you wouldn't have passed out on us and become more of a burden than you were at the start._ Mentally wincing, she nodded at the black-haired exorcist, who for some reason had been almost obsessively wiping down his sword since they'd arrived in the room.

"You're right."

It went unspoken that at that moment, as Daine considered how she was feeling, or rather, of how much use she could be at this particular moment in time, the exorcist seated beside her had noticed that she had looked pale, to the point of being peaky whilst they had been in the kitchen. In fact, he noted, he had not been feeling so well himself, worse than he was now, at any rate, though the power Daine had given him had been coursing through his veins at its peak then. They suddenly looked at each other and Daine's mouth fell open.

"Kanda-_that's it_!"

He stared at her for a moment, perplexed, until it clicked and he felt as though he should beat himself for his stupidity. Wouldn't it have been a hilarious coincidence that Daine, who was immune to the sickness because of her innocence, started to feel its effects while in the kitchen? Wouldn't it be, if Kanda too, once cured, had felt ill? Daine had already jumped to her feet, ready to run out the door.

"It's not on one of the cruise stops-it's in the ship's kitchen!"

Before she could make any move, Kanda had leapt past her, Mugen in hand, and run out the door, not even pausing to shout over his shoulder in his gruff, low voice, "tell the others."

She nodded an affirmative and took off in the opposite direction.

"Holy shit, GET THE HELL OFF OF ME!"

Win shoved rather viciously at Lavi, who had been jumping up and down on the bed with a completely serious-grim, even-look on his face, until he tripped and fell on top of her, dragging Allen down with him. She was in a terrible mood. Scratch that, she was feeling completely and totally homicidal. Even ALLEN, whom she generally got along with, was annoying her. And he was the second farthest thing from annoying in her book, the first being her little not-sister Daine. Lavi pouted when he landed on the ground with a rather nasty thud.

Daine stumbled into the room before he had the chance to sit up.

"We've found it."

The three rather distracted exorcists stared at her for a moment before jumping into action. Win was the first one to scramble to her feet, her claws unsheathed with a vicious ringing noise as she nimbly vaulted at the door, grabbing Daine's arm in so smooth a movement that it could have only been born of custom and dragging her out the door. The two were off with nothing but a glimpse of Win's nearly white hair as she whipped around the corner. Allen watched them go, feeling almost confused.

"Lavi, why are they running off so fast? And…where are they going?"

The redheaded exorcist shrugged, frowning thoughtfully. And then scrambling to his feet and invoking is innocence.

"Big hammer, little hammer, grow, grow, GROW!"

Allen, in a reflex, did the same and invoked his akuma fighting weapon.

"Wait, Lavi-"

The other man shook his head.

"We have to find them."

The grey-haired boy caught the urgency in his friend's voice as he spoke. His mind was churning, fraught with possibilities. He distinctly remembered being sick…the feeling after eating…he knew where the innocence was.

"Lavi, they're heading towards the kitchen!"

The other man's expression was uncharacteristically serious as he nodded at Allen.

"But they don't know they're heading into a trap."

Allen's stomach twisted into knots.

"But Kanda's alone, and Win-"

He understood now the underlying feeling of panic as he too rushed after the girls. Win would be at a severe disadvantage having to protect Daine as well as herself. Allen guessed that Daine, while having recovered at least to a certain extent, wouldn't be able to give Win the power that she would need to fight off an entire horde. A trap.

"Lavi, if they know where the innocence is, why don't they just take it? Are they that desperate to eliminate five exorcists?"

Lavi shook his head as he turned sharply round a corner, followed by Allen.

"If they could just take it, I think they would. Think about it, Allen. Our innocence is the cure to the sickness. I don't think anyone would actually be able to get that close to the innocence without their own to counter the illness. They need us."

Allen understood.

"They've been waiting for us to figure it out and try to take it. But then…

His face took on a more troubled look.

"If they're waiting for us to take it, why did they try to kill us?"

Dark implications hung about their heads as they picked up the pace, running towards the kitchen once again. Lavi grit his teeth.

"We need to hurry."

The kitchen was in shambles. Literally. Hurricane Kanda had struck, and he had not been merciful. In his hunt for the innocence, he had managed to tear the room apart. He had long since figured out that the akuma aboard the ship had been waiting for them to retrieve it, so he only planned to find it, and wait for the others. In any case, he was feeling rather violently sick. Damn. His proximity to the innocence must have worn through the energy or whatever it is that Daine had given him more quickly. He cursed as the urge to throw up hit him like a heavy club to the stomach. He could feel that it was close, but where?

Win and Daine had nearly reached the kitchen when they were attacked. Win knew, after being informed by Daine, that the akuma were unable to get near the innocence since the sickness was so strong. Neither had known, though, that they were racing into a trap.

"I thought they needed us!"

Win slashed an akuma in two with a lightning-quick strike of her claws, Daine ducked to avoid a blow, keeping her cool as best she could, which was to say, panicking. The girls were separated and Daine hadn't been able to give her friend any of her power.

"I thought so too! Why are they attacking us? The only way-"

Daine paled. The only reasons the akuma might have for attacking them were that they had either overpowered Kanda and taken the innocence from him or they had found another way to get what they wanted. She cursed.

"WIN, WE HAVE TO GET TO KANDA!"

The white-haired girl nodded at her from across the hall, gritting her teeth as she countered a blow with both of her claws.

"Go! I'll cover you. Give him-"

She broke up, trying for a swipe at an akuma's head even as Dain protested. The exorcist snorted at her friends exclamations and shoved her left fist, claws extended, into what looked like it might have been the akuma's jugular, if they had such things. It exploded. A cat-like smirk spread over the fighting girl's face until she threw herself into the fight again.

"JUST GO! And tell that girly-man that he'd better keep you and the innocence safe, or I'm going to kick his ass to kingdom come!"

Daine hesitated for a moment, biting her lip, before nodding and running off. Or rather, ducking and dodging her way down a hallway until she reached the kitchen door, threw it open, and stopped short. Ahead of her was blackness, utter dark.

"Kanda?"

Her heart was threatening to pound its way out of her chest, and a shiver ran down her spine when she heard a low, gruff voice say, "leave, Daine." A soft, deep chuckling filled the air, and she was shoved into the room from behind, or was pulled as though by an invisible force and the door slammed shut behind her.

A lone butterfly, seemingly made of light, floated by her head and she suddenly felt dizzy. There was something close, and she felt as though the air around her was wrong.

"Nice of you to join us…Daine…"

A light flared to life and Daine found herself staring into a pair of dark, tawny eyes.

The Night of Lost Innocence/End.


	6. Cruise, Part V

**Chapter 6: At Last, Together**

Daine stumbled back, her hand blindly thrown out behind her, searching for something to steady herself on. Everything was suddenly lit, gone up in flames, and for a moment, she couldn't see. In the time it took her eyes to adjust from the pitch black the room had been before to a blaze of sparks and flame, the man, no, the Noah who had been in front of her closed the distance between them in an easy two strides.

"Are you going to invoke our innocence and attack me now, cherie?"

Daine blinked feverishly and held her arms in front of her body defensively. Elsewhere, Kanda cursed, struggling to his feet, doubling over as the pangs in his stomach threatened to bring him to his knees once more. The man tilted his head at her curiously before letting out a soft, "ah," of understanding.

"You can't see."

Staggering back from the sound of his voice, Daine fell, knocking her hand painfully against a cabinet, or what she vaguely assumed to be one. She was too preoccupied with the hazy white that was all she could make out in front of her. Slowly, a silhouette was made distinguishable, and then blurry features. The same glowing, tawny eyes watched her with amusement. Elsewhere there was a scraping noise and a deep-throated growl.

In all honesty, for Kanda to stand in his condition, it was a miracle. The Noah had been toying with him, immune to the sickness that had hit Kanda full force. But it would never be said that he had allowed a Noah to take the innocence while he still drew breath. With a rebel yell, he launched himself at the enemy, sword in the air. The Noah smoothly stepped aside to avoid the attack, but the figurative damage was done. Daine scrambled to her feet, the gold glint in a knocked over cookie jar full of flour telling her exactly what she needed to know.

She lunged under the Noah's arm and grabbed the innocence at just the same time that he sent Kanda flying with a vicious kick. Daine shook out the substance of the jar, biting back a scream when the Noah suddenly appeared in front of her, the expression on his face very far from amused.

"Give me the jar, girl."

Daine scrambled away from him, bumping into a cabinet and nearly tripping over a frying pan. The Noah's golden eyes were trained on her in curiosity.

"Still not attacking, hmm? I must admit, I'm rather intrigued. Do you think you can beat me without your innocence weapon? Because if you do, rest assured that that is not even close to the case…"

Daine clutched the jar to her chest, her eyes wide in fear. She crashed and stumbled her way backwards, choking on the dust in the air as she went. Her mind was racing. She couldn't fight, but perhaps if she distracted the man in front of her for long enough…she could make it to Kanda…

"How do you know?"

The man looked at her, a slim eyebrow raised.

"How do I know what…? That you don't stand a chance against me without your weapon?"

Daine kept backing up, trying to keep a level expression on her face. How many steps did she still need to bluff through? She quirked her own eyebrow, trying to sound as cocky as she possibly could manage. _Channel Kanda's arrogance…you're Allen, you haven't eaten, and the innocence is a ticket stub for a free twelve-course dinner…be self-assured…you're Lavi, trying to get in some poor girl's skirts…Pretend you have a secret weapon…like a Sir Komlin that actually works…channel the smug Noah bastard in front of you…_

"Au contraire, sir. Perhaps it is you who doesn't stand a chance against my weapon and I am only having mercy on your misbegotten soul by not drawing it."

Her voice came out so smoothly she surprised herself. She was walking backwards in small, slow steps, and somehow she felt as though she was dancing with him, every step she took back, he moved forward.

"As suave as your delivery seems to be, darling, I can tell that you're bluffing. I've been around much too long to be fooled by such an act-a good one, but I digress."

Okay, so bluffing wasn't working. Daine decided to stall.

"Suave is a word more often associated with masculinity, isn't it? Are you implying something about my appearance, mister…?"

She hadn't _actually_ meant to sound so flirty, but it had come out the way it had come out, and her enemies eyes roved up and down her body, settling on her face after what felt like an agonizingly long time, glimmering in the fire light.

"Tyki. Tyki Mikk."

Oh boy, if Kanda had been closer to conscious, or at least far enough gone not to realize what she was doing, she would never hear the end of it. Fraternizing with the enemy, though it might be for the sake of the mission? Scandalous! She stepped back once, then again, backing up more quickly as he advanced on her like a predator after its prey. Her back hit the wall suddenly, and she felt the fabric of his shirt on her bare arm around the jar, he was so close. His fingers toyed with the empty sleeve of her jacket before tugging it off her shoulders, where she had it draped, as usual.

"My, my, the uniforms you exorcists wear aren't the most modest, are they…?"

Daine avoided gritting her teeth in consternation. Her uniform was something similar to a sleeveless turtleneck dress, though the neckline had more of the appearance of a choker and the entire front of her dress was made of thin white belts that buckled closed. It went down to only just above her knee, and it fit snugly against her curves, following tightly along the contours of her body until the very end. It was a far cry from Win's plain tank top and the mid-thigh length skirt that covered a pair of much longer shorts, but there was a reason for it. The same reason why she perpetually wore her jacket draped over her shoulders, rather than with her arms through the sleeves, as normal people did. She could transfer power to others through skin on skin contact. What better way to maximize efficiency than to easier access her skin?

"They're all customized to our fighting styles, Mr. Mikk. Subtly, of course. Though akuma are hardly perceptive enough to deduce the differences in a coat with a hood and a short skirt or a body suit. Can you guess the reasoning behind mine…?"

Tyki was suddenly in her face, his breath cool against her flaming cheeks. She had never been this close to a man, and despite being an evil bastard, Tyki Mikk was certainly a _man_. He chuckled as though he could palpably feel her discomfort.

"I shouldn't think so…but I'm sure, with ample opportunities to research the matter, I could figure it out…"

He leaned forward and Daine allowed her already wobbling knees to give out and thus dropped like a stone and then scrambled on the floor towards her fallen comrade. Her heart nearly stopped when Tyki grabbed her ankle and sank when she realized Kanda was in his full uniform, coat and all, his hands and face-the only things exposed-out of her reach.

"DAMMIT, KANDA, THROW ME A BONE, HERE!"

Her fingers lightly grasped at his boot, even as she kicked and flailed about trying to get away from an extremely far from amused Tyki. The Japanese exorcist groaned and rolled over, trying to sit up and failing. Seeing Daine-more specifically, the cookie jar full of flour in Daine's hand-he cursed and sat up, doubling over instantly and coughing up blood. Funnily enough, it was this that saved them, because his movement pulled up the hem of his pants around his ankle. Just enough for the tip of Daine's finger to reach.

She felt a familiar rush, and Kanda smirked. The effects of the innocence were nearly null and void, and he could feel that she had given him as much as she could without incapacitating herself. Good. This way, she wouldn't get in his way. He pulled himself to his feet as Tyki watched, curious to the point of letting Daine go. He could hunt her down later.

Daine started digging through the jar, feeling for the innocence as Kanda jumped at Tyki, letting loose his illusions on the Noah he currently had a vendetta against. There was an explosion and she turned her head to the door, eyes wide. Win had been fighting a group of level ones, alone. Surely she couldn't be-

She ran out of time to ponder her friend's fate when an akuma came in through the hole in the wall that had been made when Tyki kicked Kanda into it. She yelped and started running away from it, inadvertently leading it towards the battle going on in the center of the kitchen. Tyki used the distraction to steal away from the fight to chase after her, leaving Kanda to deal with the akuma. Daine cursed, ducking beneath a counter, rummaging through the jar.

"Where the hell did it go? It's a glowing golden cube! They don't disappear, just like that!"

"You're right, they don't."

Tyki was standing before her, nefarious smile and all.

"Fuck-"

She crashed into the same counter she had been hiding under, trapped. He smirked.

"Give me the jar."

Daine panicked. Rather than corner her properly, though, Tyki held out a hand and waited patiently for her to bring it to him. She looked wildly about her, and then there were shouts from the door.

"Watch out, Allen!"

Win saved Allen from losing is head with a violent swipe of her innocence claws. Lavi was already fighting his way to Kanda, cheerfully shouting for them to "find Daine." Said female exorcist cursed at their distance. There were too many akuma between them for her to somehow pass them the jar. Tyki glared at the company, and Daine, in a moment of…madness, lifted the jar above her head and proceeded to smash it on the ground. Flour exploded into the air, blinding both Daine and Tyki, and Daine fell to the floor and started rifling through the white to find the innocence. Tyki did the same, dropping to his knees in a less-than-dignified way, a wild scowl on his face.

There it was, a glint of gold, on the very edge of the pile of spilt flour. Daine stumbled to her feet, the familiar lightheadedness threatening to take over, even as Tyki stood in a single abrupt movement only a step away. Vaguely, their eyes met, and, oblivious to the shouting behind them, they lunged.

Daine was lighter and more desperate. She grabbed the innocence and straightened up. Before she could run over to Allen or Win, the closest, capable exorcists, Tyki turned on her with an almost uncharacteristic snarl, and she closed her eyes tightly and prayed.

There was a sudden brightness in front of her and the unusually small cube in her hand was gone. When she opened her eyes in shock, Tyki was standing there looking at her curiously. The sounds of battle were all but over, and though Allen had been engaged, and Kanda still fought, Win and Lavi managed to stumble onto their side of the kitchen. Tyki straightened, clearly appreciating the fact that it was time for him to go. He smiled at Daine, who was standing shocked, her knees shaking, covered in flour, her messy bun almost entirely undone, her green eyes wide and staring into space, as if she could see something there.

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Daine. You're quite engaging-and now? Positively intriguing. I'm _sure_ we'll be seeing one another again quite soon. Take care of the innocence, yes?"

He took a step closer, lifted her limp hand in his, and pressed his lips to it politely.

"Until then, cherie."

With that, he all but disappeared, leaving naught but chaos and destruction and a trembling Daine in his wake.

Needless to say, Win was not pleased.

"THAT BASTARD! Are you okay, Daine? I CAN'T BELIEVE THE NERVE OF THAT STUPID NOAH! He didn't hurt you, right? ARGH, FUCKING INNOCENCE STEALER!"

Daine had been strong to stay standing up to that point, but here her strength failed her and she fell to her knees, still shocked.

"He didn't take it…"

Nonplussed, Win barreled on.

"THAT LOUSY, EVIL JERK! HOW DARE HE? HOW _DARE_ HE?"

Lavi, however, immune to the fits of irritable exorcists with a temper, heard what Daine said and was taken aback himself.

"You mean, he just gave up?"

"WHAT THE HELL IS HE DRESSED FOR, ANYWAY? HIS FUNERAL? SADISTIC WOMANIZER!"

Daine nodded, albeit extremely unsurely.

"Yes-well, kind of. He couldn't have taken it…because I had it…"

Lavi didn't miss the tone of worry in her voice, but he was so pleased in the success of their mission, he brushed it away. Win was still ranting about Tyki, his appearance, his audacity, his mother, and everything in between. Daine suddenly grabbed Lavi's sleeve, her expression desperate.

"Lavi, we need to get back to base. I need to talk to Komui, Hevlaska too, probably. The innocence is gone."

The redhead stared at her for a moment, frowning, before carefully saying, "you said you had it…"

Daine clenched her fists, trying not to tear up.

"I did have it! I was holding it, and then there was a light, and it melted in my hand. Tyki couldn't have touched it. He was really mad, too, and then he just left. He told me to take care of it. I had it, I swear, and now, I-I, I don't know w-where-"

It was all she could say before she burst into tears. Lavi stared at her for a moment before pulling her into a hug.

"Hey, you tried. You tried as hard as you could, and for someone who can't even fight akuma, you did a damn good job. So don't cry, okay? And…even if we don't have the innocence, at least the Millennium Earl doesn't have the innocence, right? Better have it gone than in their hands. But you did good, you tried your hardest and you saved Yu, right?"

Daine sniffled and buried her nose deeper into his chest, causing him to sigh. Lavi really did think she'd done a good job. He wasn't, though, sold on the notion that everyone else would see things the same way. Everyone else being Kanda.

And of course, when you speak of the devil-or so much as think of him-he will appear.

"What the hell happened?"

The Japanese exorcist was mad, raging, and it was obvious. Win glared at him, always ready to shout a few choice words in his direction.

"What HAPPENED, asshole, was that Daine and I got attacked, so I told her to go ahead and give you a hand, and she did, and she had a damn time with it! What HAPPENED, Kanda, was that the two of you didn't know that the akuma had found a new way to get to the innocence-one that didn't involve us."

She was spitting mad, but after hearing what Lavi had told Daine, she couldn't believe the nerve of the man. Allen, just come over, put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, Lavi, still holding Daine, tried to calm the wrath of Kanda in his own less confrontational way.

"Hey, don't worry, Yu-chan, they didn't get the innocence."

Kanda turned to him with a snarl, though seemingly more prepared to listen.

"Don't call me that!"

He paused, turning aggressively to Daine.

"You have the innocence then?"

She shrugged helplessly at him, furiously trying to blink away her tears, still wrapped up in Lavi's comforting embrace.

"I don't-"

She swallowed and Allen tried to intercede.

"She had it, Kanda, and somehow it disappeared. Tyki didn't take it, though, and that's something to be thankful for, right?"

The black haired exorcist glared at him before stalking off. Once he was gone, Allen's face furrowed into a frown. Innocence didn't just disappear. It joined with a weapon, with its accommodator. Daine already had her innocence, it was impossible for her to receive another one. Right? He thought back to what Win had told him about their meeting with Hevlaska.

"_So, how did it go?"_

_They were walking down a hallway at headquarters. Win fixed him with a grin and two thumbs up. _

"_It was great. I'm at 87% synchronization normally, but just for an experiment, we tried it after Daine had been checked and she gave me some power and I ended up at 261%! Hevlaska had never seen anything like it! And that was only a third of what Daine had. After that she was running at about 17%."_

_She suddenly frowned. _

"_It was weird. Hevlaska couldn't tell when she first checked Daine whether she was running at 48% or 98%. Isn't that weird?"_

_He nodded in agreement. _

"_It's not like Hevlaska to not be spot on."_

He felt as if there was a possibility staring him in the face, and he simply couldn't see it. It was bothering him, but he couldn't do anything about it. It was pushed away until they reached headquarters, but he made sure to mention it to Komui, who promptly called for Daine and took her away. Lavi, Win, and Allen waited nervously in Komui's office for the results of her test. It had long since been agreed that the innocence must have been absorbed into her somehow, but they hadn't come up with any sort of explanation for it during the time they could get away from the Kanda's anger and Daine's melancholy. Both viewed the mission as a failure and spent the trip back in silence.

"Ugh, Lenalee's so lucky! I wish I was in there with Daine-I mean, I'm practically her sister!"

Allen sighed and shrugged, used to Win's complaints. They had been waiting for quite a while, as the ones to escort Daine in to see Hevlaska had been Lenalee and her brother, and they still hadn't come out. Allen smiled cheerfully at the scowling Win.

"Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be out any second now."

At least, that's what he _would_ have said, had the door not noisily been thrown open and Win jumped up and ran over to Daine, excitedly, worriedly asking, "what did she say?"

Komui had walked off, scribbling furiously while muttering about beginning a new, vital research project and Lenalee was beaming. A shocked, if tired Daine smiled wearily at her friend, holding up both hands unsurely.

"The innocence that was on the ship…apparently, it was mine."

At Last, Together/End.


	7. The Other Half

**Chapter 7: The Other Half**

Allen gaped at her, standing up for the first time since she had walked in.

"But, that's not possible! You can't be the accommodator for _two_ pieces of innocence-"

Lavi watched carefully as she shook her head, intrigued, though confused. His rather superior mind was rapidly putting pieces together…Daine shook her head.

"No, you're right. I didn't say that. I said it was mine. As in, it was already mine to begin with, before we went on the mission, before any of this. The innocence in my body that lets me share my power with you, it…"

She trailed off, wondering how best to phrase it. Lenalee noted her sway a bit unsteadily on her feet and led her to the bench. Win frowned.

"You mean, it wasn't your innocence?"

Komui walked back into the hall, without the clipboard he had been holding, pensive, and, for once, thinking of something other than his darling sister.

"No, Win, it _was_ her innocence. Or rather, it was half. It seems the reason why the innocence had no offensive capabilities was precisely _because_ it was incomplete. Or rather, the innocence seems to have adapted, being only half, in an attempt to protect its accommodator. Daine was unable to fight for herself, but, and this is the part I don't know much about, other than what I've been told, Win was capable of defending her, so the innocence adapted in order to ensure its accommodator's safety. I would imagine that now that her innocence has been reunited with itself, its combative uses will make themselves known, but it is Hevlaska's assumption that the innocence's fighting style is dependant upon direct contact, as Daine's power transfer is."

Lavi absorbed it all quietly, even as Win piped up and asked, "will she lose her ability to power us up?"

Daine cracked a smile at that.

"Maybe, maybe not. Hevlaska said that the way my innocence mutated might not allow it to merge properly with itself, and if it doesn't, I might end up just being able to give out power and not get any fighting power. If it does merge properly, I might lose that ability, or I might keep it and gain a fighting style. She's never seen broken innocence like that before, so she doesn't know what'll happen, but…"

She grinned.

"In a bizarre way, our mission was a success."

Komui snorted.

"That's putting it mildly. A broken piece of innocence like that usually is _just_ that-broken. Meaning, it doesn't work. It's beyond use. But Daine's innocence _adapted_. In fact, based on what we've studied, it continues adapting. For example, Daine being able to power up others is a new ability. Now, her power is just as potent with exorcists she's close to as it is for Win. Why? Because her innocence _adapts_. This is beyond the adaptation that Allen has seen, for instance. Because that is merely Allen unlocking the capabilities of his innocence. Daine's broken piece of innocence adapted _on its own_. If Hevlaska and I are correct and the other piece has the same ability to change, it would have been incredibly dangerous if it fell into the Earl's hands. By the way, Daine, I want you down in the research center every evening for the rest of the week. Come, darling Lenalee! We must away-"

He was silenced and banished by a kick to the head. From who? Lenalee, of course. Daine sighed and leaned back on the bench.

"It's good to be home."

And indeed it was. The first night back in her own room was heavenly. She had thrown her filthy uniform into a pile in the corner of her bathroom and had a bath. It was heaven on earth, the very definition of bliss. She slept like the dead-as in, a sleep so deep, had anyone tried to wake her, even if they set Kanda on her and he chopped off her arm, she wouldn't have so much as stirred. That morning, Allen, Win, and Daine had a breakfast that was beyond anything the likes of which had ever been ordered. People had gathered to see if they would finish eating it as their combined amount of food had actually managed to surpass the record for the highest number of dishes ordered at a single breakfast _ever_.

They enjoyed every last bite.

"_WHAT_?"

Komui looked completely and totally unimpressed.

"No amount of yelling will change my mind. Daine needs to stay back for tests, and Win, you need to learn to get on without her."

Win-practically red in the face-glared at him, about to explode, and then stamped her foot-_actually stamped her foot_-and stormed off. Daine watched her go not unworriedly.

"Komui, do you really think-"

He stood firm on his decision.

"Yes, Daine, I _do_ 'really think.' It's inevitable that the two of you will be split up, and you need to learn to deal with it now. You have to stay for testing. It might not be safe for you to go on missions in your current condition. And we're struggling, Daine, and we can't spare Win simply because she can't handle being separated from you. But~"

He grinned in a way that made Daine's stomach drop.

"Seeing as how close you two are, I'll let _you_ be the one to let her know that her partner is Kanda~"

Daine's mouth popped open.

"You-you can't honestly be considering-"

He waved at her and flounced away.

"I'll leave you to it, Daine!"

Or at least, he began to flounce away and then, with a smile that seemed to belong more to some god of mirth, he paused, turned around and said words that Daine hadn't known she dreaded to hear.

"In fact, while you're at it, dear, you can let Kanda know about the arrangement as well~"

That was it. She was dead. She watched him go with the sort of look on her face that might kill a lesser being, and then slammed her head on the table. Allen, whom she and Win had been eating with, glanced at Daine with a look that was a combination of sympathy and amusement. With perhaps a hint of fear.

"Do you want me to come with you?"

Daine stared at him for a moment before deciding to push away her troubles-at least for now-and tease him.

"Would you really? That's wonderful! How about this, you can tell them both and I'll report to Komui that you're done, yes?"

The look on his face was beyond priceless.

"B-b-but, Komui told YOU to do it, right? I'm more moral support than, than, than-"

Allen shuddered. He could see the rage in Kanda's eyes already, just on opening the door, and then the sudden, imminent threat of dismemberment that would come right after he opened his mouth. Heck, he could already see the flash of Win's claws as she attempted to kill him for being the bearer of bad news. Daine snickered.

"I'm just joking, Allen. No, don't worry yourself. Well-"

She paused, a bit wary looking.

"Would you mind maybe standing near Kanda's door? You know-just in case?"

It was with a smile that communicated nothing but a sort of understanding fondness that Allen answered her.

"Sure, Daine. Sure…"

They made the decision to meet a respectable distance from Kanda's door a little later on and Daine went off to break the news to Win. Allen stayed behind to finish his dessert.

"Win?"

Daine stood patiently at the door, waiting as she heard a distempered growl and the heavy sort of footfalls that were made by a person trying _not_ to stomp. A few seconds passed and then the door was nearly ripped off its hinges in opening and Daine was dragged in. The door swung shut.

"DAINE, CAN'T YOU SECRETLY FOLLOW US OR SOMETHING? IT WON'T BE THE SAME WITHOUT YOU! I don't even know who I'm going with! Imagine how annoying it would be if it was Lavi! Without you there, though, it's guaranteed to suck!"

Win pouted and threw herself back on her bed, leaving Daine to make herself at home as she wished. Daine sweatdropped, seeing her friend all but throw a tantrum and wondering how badly she would react when she found out who her _real_ partner was to be.

"It won't be that bad, Win! Cheer up. The faster you get it over and done with, the faster you get back, right?"

Win shot her a deadpan look, blowing a few strands of stray, white hair out of her face with an expression that easily communicated that she was far from impressed. Suddenly, she sniggered.

"You're right, Daine. After all, it's not like I'm stuck with Pretty-Boy-Kanda or something. It won't be _that_ bad."

Daine stiffened, even as Win relaxed and flopped back on her bed lazily, going back to what she had been doing with malicious intent earlier: cleaning her claws. Daine chuckled nervously.

"Yeah…right?"

Win sat up like a bullet, narrowing her eyes at Daine.

"Why the scared 'heh, heh' and the questioning tone?"

Daine fake grinned so brightly, it must have looked as if a heavenly light had lit up her face as she said, "Nothing…nothing at all."

She paused, groaned, and then gave up.

"Okay, not really. See…Komui sent me to tell you who your partner for this is…and, well…"

She shrugged. Win's mouth parted slightly in dreading surprise.

Needless to say, Allen and the rest of the inhabitants of HQ jumped when an unearthly shriek echoed throughout the entire building, shattering every piece of glass and melting down every piece of metal. Well, not really. But it was close.

"I'M PARTNERED WITH WHAT?"

By the time Daine managed to stumble shakily out of Win's room, she was deaf. Or somewhere near it. She was so disoriented, in fact, that she needed to grab hold of the wall to keep herself steady. It felt like her eardrums had burst.

"Daine~"

She looked up from her position on the floor to see Lavi, looking down at her curiously.

"Hello Lavi…What's up?"

He grinned.

"Nothing much. Did you hear that unearthly god-awful shrieking noise a few minutes ago? It sounded like, well, I don't even know. Like Kanda, singing in the shower!"

Daine blinked at him, his mellifluous voice soothing her ruptured eardrums.

"You've heard Kanda singing in the shower?"

Lavi laughed sheepishly.

"Well, no. But if he actually _did_, it would probably sound something like that. You know, what with the end of the world going on in the background and all that."

He smiled when Daine actually started to laugh. She had been looking down, well, not down, per se, but confused, perhaps, or uncertain, and he had known her long enough by now to notice. It didn't suit her. Sulking was more of a thing for Kanda and Win, albeit they sulked in ways vastly different from the other. Kanda's sulking was nearly indiscernible to the naked eye, and Win's sulking was more of a combination of pouting and (audible) anger.

Lavi always managed to make her feel better. From the time that he had saved her from a rather unpleasant end (she had actually nearly fallen off the Black Order tower, due to a fight between Kanda and Win, and for the record, Kanda was a surprising lot heavier than he looked) they had been friends. She trusted him, and she would have liked to say that he felt the same. Suddenly, she sat up. How could she have not thought of it before? Much to Lavi's perplexed surprise (and embarrassment), she without warning bowed so low on the ground from where she sat on her knees that her forehead touched it.

"Lavi! Please…train me!"

Needless to say, the redhead was shocked.

"Um, what do you mean, train? Well, I guess I know what you mean, but-"

The sudden image of Daine-flustered and having abandoned her Order coat, thereby baring her shoulders, pinned beneath him as he taught her grappling-planted itself in his mind and he grinned, helping her up at once.

"Strike~! You bet I can, Daine!"

She grinned back just as widely and proceeded to throw her arms around his neck.

"Thank you so much-you don't know how much it means to me!"

She paused suddenly and cursed.

"Ah! I have to go, Allen promised to meet me in case I needed back up. I'll talk to you later, okay? Later, sensei!"

Lavi waved her off cheerfully before contemplating exactly what he had gotten himself into. He guessed it the cause of the odd affair was her desire to be of use and not be dead weight, and he had seen her looking down and had rightly observed what no one else had-the worries that plagued her. She was scared because she wasn't sure if she would be able to even supply her friends with power, and she was even more terrified of the thought of losing that power altogether and being truly useless. But still…that didn't explain what it was that she had in mind with the training…And wait…had she just called him "sensei?" Oh, he couldn't wait to see Win, Yuu, and Allen's faces when they heard her refer to him as "teacher."

"Lavi? Are you…cackling?"

It was with a look so innocent that even the least gullible of men would have fallen for it that Lavi turned to Krory, just back from a mission, and said "nope." Naturally, Krory believed him. Lavi sniggered after waving him away just as he had Daine. This Black Order business certainly was a way to brighten up the monotony of…well, recording history.

Not that being a Bookman apprentice wasn't fun. He just…really liked…teasing people.

"Are you ready?"

Daine nodded.

"As ready as I'll ever be. Do you think you're at a safe-but-still-close-enough-distance?"

Allen nodded, just as serious.

"If he tries to so much as dismember you through the door, I'll have you out of there in the blink of an eye. Or…the flash of a sword…"

Both of them shivered slightly. Daine, though, steeled herself.

"I'm going in."

"Right."

Kanda had been doing his own little thing i.e. sharpening his sword so that it would gleam when he used it to spatter the pig woman's blood across every wall in the tower. He couldn't _believe_ that damn Komui had partnered him up with that-that _pathetic_, _annoying_, _weak_ woman. His hand slipped and he nearly lost it on his own blade. Cursing darkly under his breath, he took the stone he used to keep his blade's edge from dulling in his hand and started up again. Then, there was a timid knock on the door. He growled.

Daine jumped when Kanda opened the door-honestly, she hadn't been expecting him to actually _open it_. She had been hoping for, at best, a rather rude grunt that could be loosely translated as "_get the hell out_" or something alone those lines, regardless of the fact that she hadn't _actually_ even stepped into the room. To say a civil response like ripping the door open ill-manneredly was unexpected was an understatement at the very least.

"_What_?"

Daine took a small step back surprised by the sharpness of his voice.

"Um, Komui asked me to tell you that you have a mission with-"

Kanda put a hand over her mouth-_actually covered her mouth_-and glared in the direction of the science department, eyes narrowed to slits.

"I already know."

Daine nodded rather weakly. He let go. And then was slammed shut in her face and, bizarrely enough, Daine smiled. That had gone quite well. Better, at any rate, than she had expected it to. Right?

Allen and Daine saw Kanda and Win off when it was time for them to leave-it was a slow goodbye, not necessarily because they couldn't bear to leave, but rather because every time Win tried to remind Allen of her instructions for caring for Daine, Kanda would interrupt and both of them would fight and when they were finally pulled apart Win would continue.

"Don't forget-her favorite food is cheesecake, and you have to make sure to at least check up on her every hour and a half. She gets into such mischief when she's left alone! Don't forget to change her water either. Or feed her."

Daine watched with a drop of sweat rolling down her forehead as she was treated as a pet but decided to forgo complaining in favor of literally shoving Win out the door, red in the face. Allen looked amused, but thought it better not to comment. And so time passed.

"Are you ready?"

Daine nodded.

"Big Hammer, Little Hammer, grow, grow, grow!"

Lavi's hammer increased dramatically in size.

"Dodge my attacks, redirect them if you can, and try to hit me. I talked to Bookman about it and he agreed with me-the best way to get you to activate your innocence is to push you to your limit, as if you were in a real life-or-death situation."

His expression grew as close to serious as it could.

"Basically all you have to do is survive. But, Daine, you have to be serious. Once I start, I'm not going to stop. If I do, your innocence won't recognize me as a threat and won't react to me. If that happens, you'll have to find someone else to help you. Can you do it, Daine?"

She held his gaze with a steady look. He shrugged.

"Okay then. I guess this is the part where I try to kill you."

The Other Half/End.


	8. Mission LITERALLY Impossible

**Chapter 8: Mission LITERALLY Impossible**

"!"

Win tore at her hair in frustration, the straw that broke the camel's back having been turned into a huge, several ton boulder that not only broke the poor camel's (in this case, Win's) back but rather crushed its spine into a fine powder and squashed it into jelly.

"You vile, insufferable, pompous, self-absorbed _bastard_!"

She attempted to slap (the stuffing out of) him, but he grabbed her wrist, shoving it away with an ill-mannered swat of his hand.

"Shut up."

It was to a brilliant shade of red that Win's face colored. In the space of two seconds.

"_Don't you DARE_! You, Kanda, are worse than akuma! I _hate_ you! I HAVE NEVER MET ANYONE WHO SO PERFECTLY CAPTURED THE MEANING OF 'ASSHOLE!' YOUR PICTURE MUST BE IN THE DEFINITION IN THE DICTIONARY! AND YOUR NAME WOULD HAVE 'IDIOTIC,' 'MORONIC,' 'BRUTISH,' AND 'BASTARD' LISTED AS SYNONYMS!"

"Grab the goats."

Win's face was beyond scarlet now, it was quickly growing into a horrible shade of blackcurrant as she struggled to speak, so angry as she was.

"DON'T TELL ME TO GRAB THE GOATS, YOU INSUFFERABLE BASTARD! GRAB THE DAMN GOATS YOURSELF! I'M NOT GRABBING THE DAMN-"

She suddenly screamed as a very old, mean billy goat that had taken to following her around-it was a mottled, light-colored one that blended in with the sand around them-butted her with his obnoxious horns. Kanda ignored her entirely, proceeding, instead to remove the grayish-beige abundance of coarse fabric that he had wrapped around his body.

"Either grab the goats, or die with them. I don't care either way."

Win pointed an accusing finger-she was beyond blackcurrant colored now, in fact, she had become so purple she was becoming pale and was now a nasty shade of puce-in his direction and then faltered when she looked right past him and saw what had quickly become, upon entering this godforsaken country, her worst nightmare. She shrieked.

"SANDSTORM!"

Kanda forced himself not to react to her stupidity and continued methodically staking his cloak of sorts down into the sand. Win quickly removed her own and layered it over his, grabbing goats by the scruff of the neck in a panic and forcing them to lay down, pushing their little heads under the makeshift fabric tent. The old billy goat was last, and he did not go without a fight. When at last the damn goat was safe, Win stuck her own head into the tent, just as Kanda did. They both held onto the fabric as an extra precaution-if it were taken by the winds, they would die in the storm. Win glared at Kanda's head, the only part of him that she could see.

"I hate you."

The Japanese swordsman closed his eyes briefly and muttered something in Japanese. Win narrowed her eyes at him.

"What was that?"

He glared at her just as icily and opened his mouth to reply when the storm was literally upon them, and any sound that could have come out of his mouth was lost in the buffeting winds. Win growled to herself and then stopped, quite suddenly, when she realized which goat was right next to her.

"Awwww, man! Why on earth did it have to be-"

The mottled, aging billy-goat butted the side of her head rather ferociously before proceeding to belch so loudly that it was heard very clearly in the tent. Win turned green.

"Ew, ew, ew, ew, ew. That is _so_ disgusting."

The look on Kanda's face clearly suggested that he blamed her for everything. Win nearly stuck her tongue out at him but then thought the better of it and settled for glaring at him before closing her eyes wearily. It was cold, very cold outside. And her weird robe thing was being used to help filter sand out of the air so that she, Kanda, and the goats could breathe. Why the hell was a country that bordered Russia and got the best of the freaking Siberian gales a freaking desert. And when it wasn't a desert, it was mountains.

"I hate Komui. That bastard. Why the hell did he have to send me to Kazakhstan with _him_?"

The stupid, mottled old billy goat made some horrid, mottled little noise and then, suddenly, all of the previously docile goats snapped to alertness and started bleating. Kanda glared at Win, once again, as though it were entirely her fault. She held her breath for a moment, trying to keep her temper in check, and then a chorus of belching met her ears.

And just like that, the sandstorm had passed and Win was trying to rip the cloaks off of them, desperate for fresh, relatively, at least, air, scowling at the incredibly awful feeling of sand in her jacket, down her tank top, up her shorts. She shuddered. She was never going anywhere near sand again. Never. _Never_.

Before she could properly settle down to mope, though, Kanda was unsheathing his sword and akuma were practically raining down upon them. Win shot the sky a withering look, her claws out and already slashing through akuma.

"I hate life."

It was a constant occurrence indeed, being attacked, and when at last Kanda and Win had beat down the horde that had come upon them, they decided (silently, without speaking or communicating in any way) that it was time to set up camp. Which consisted, essentially, of wrapping their robes tighter around themselves and taking turns sleeping sitting upright, back to back, in case they were once again ambushed. The goats had taken to cuddling up next to them, sharing their warmth. Well, they had with Kanda. The only goat that would go near Win after she had been introduced by an incredibly irate, unwilling Kanda as his wife (they had been told to pose as a married couple of goat-herders by Komui) was the mean, mottled billy-goat. Every time she started to fall asleep as she was supposed to during Kanda's watch, the damned goat had butted her awake. The only high point of the evening was that Kanda had first watch. So she could sleep…right? The billy-goat bleated at her, it's eyes gleaming in the darkness.

Daine's heart thudded in her chest as she tried to minimize the damage she was taking from the huge snake-shaped column of fire that made up Lavi's Fire Stamp. He was honest to God trying to kill her. She cried out a little and patted away the flames that had caught the hem of her dress, nursing her burnt arm as she leapt back.

Where had her teacher gone? She couldn't see him in all the smoke-half of the damn training room seemed to be on fire. She suddenly snapped back, eyes alight, when she heard the slightest rustling of fabric. They had been training, if you could call it that, for days. Rather, Daine had managed to survive for days, and now she was suffering from actually sharpened senses-perhaps it was desperation, but she had in fact improved.

She stumbled around just in time to use the palm of her hand to slightly change the trajectory of Lavi's hammer-it only bruised her shoulder now, as opposed to breaking her ribs-and proceeded to scramble back, her breathing hard. Just as quickly, the hammer was retracted and Lavi came at her in a hand to hand style.

"Dammit-"

He was going to kill her. He was seriously going to kill her. She winced as he grabbed her wrist, thereby stopping her punch and incapacitating her. She swung her bare leg upwards and landed a solid kick at his ribs, causing him to let go-mainly in surprise-and giving her an opening in which to come at him again. She tried a rather wild haymaker in his direction but was kicked into and then through a wall. She struggled to sit up, but Lavi tackled her to the floor and pinned her down. She kicked him off as best she could, and while she didn't succeed in sending him flying, she certainly managed to get him off. She bolted back into the training room but was struck by the power of the blow she received from his hammer and fell. Rolling onto her back, she managed to make it just in time to scramble away from another hammer blow, heaving herself to her feet, her breathing heavy, her limbs like lead. Lavi raised his hammer again, his smile as absent as it had been for the past few days, a fatal glint in his eye.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Allen was shocked at the state of the training room. It was in absolute shambles. Not only that-Daine's condition shocked him. She looked as though she had been literally fighting for her life-how could Lavi be so irresponsible? When had she last eaten or slept? Win was going to kill him! Was that the _roof_ on _fire_?

"Lavi!"

The redhead was ignoring him entirely, opting instead to go in for the kill, hammer poised for a thunderous swing. Daine backed up as quick as she could, stepping almost nimbly to the side to avoid another blow, sacrificing feeling in her hands for a few minutes in favor of redirecting the blow with her palms-this time, it didn't touch her.

"LAVI!"

Allen grabbed the red head and forced him back, innocence invocated in the blink of an eye. The red head nearly brushed him off but then stopped struggling as Allen dragged him away from Daine, who watched her teacher carefully as Allen subdued him, a sense of awareness, caution instilled in her from their training.

"You're going to kill her!"

The redhead watched his pupil like a hawk.

"Exactly."

There was absolutely no joking in that tone, and Allen heard it just as well as Daine did. He, however, wasn't made aware of the reasoning behind what he assumed to be madness. Without warning, Lavi lunged out of Allen's grip and nearly flattened Daine with a lightning blow of his hammer. She had barely managed to redirect it, and Lavi paused, the slightest glimmer of curiosity in his eyes before he attacked her again. Allen watched, horrified.

"Lavi, stop!"

Allen grabbed hold of Lavi once more and this time made sure to keep him subdued.

"Stop it!"

The white-haired teen struggled to keep his friend captive and then they had company.

"LAVIIIIIIIII! DAIIIIIINE! Have you made any progress with your training?"

Komui, blissfully unaware of everything that had been going on for the past few days but having been vaguely briefed by Bookman, strolled in and stopped, surveying the damage.

"What happened here?"

Allen opened his mouth to answer but Daine rather shakily beat him to it.

"Training."

Komui looked at her for a moment-taking in the burns she was nursing, and the bruises-then turning his attention to the room-burning ceiling included. Allen looked as if he were about to protest something, but Komui silenced him with a look.

"Clean up, Daine. You and Lavi have a mission."

Allen was shocked, not only because Komui had told Win that he was keeping Daine back until it was clear what effect the union of her innocence had on her abilities, but because the man was so blatantly disregarding the fact that Lavi had seemingly become some bloodthirsty monster. In Allen's opinion, at least. Honestly, it looked like he was really, truly trying to kill her.

Lavi nodded and shrunk his hammer back down to size, looked at Daine very seriously and said, "we'll come back to this later." He then proceeded to hug-attack her, sweep her off her feet, and carry her off to God knows where, leaving a panicking Allen and an amused Komui in his wake. Daine had blinked at him blearily for a moment, tense, and then all of a sudden passed out. Allen turned on Komui.

"You can't be serious!"

The chief nodded absentmindedly.

"Of course I am. Exorcists can't simply walk about in tattered training clothes. What kind of image would that send to the Millennium Earl and the Noah? We're not barbarians!"

Allen blanched. Komui was, in his mind, entirely missing the point.

"Lavi was trying to kill her!"

Komui shrugged.

"They were training."

It was true. He hadn't much liked the concept when Bookman had explained it, but he was able to understand where the use of it might be-it was, though hardly better, still the superior alternative to leaving Daine to learn her limits on the field. Maybe Lavi was trying to kill her, but he didn't think that the redhead would _actually_ go through with it. If he had truly wanted to kill her, to really kill her, he could have easily done it with his Combo Stamp in a single move. No, he was training her, but he wasn't taking it easy on her. And that was exactly what she needed, perhaps, in order to truly gain control of her innocence. It's adaptability was the heart and soul of it-for however long she had fought Lavi, she had been living through her fight or flight instincts-and Win wasn't there to save her. The theory behind the entire affair was that by fighting Lavi nonstop with her life on the line (as far as she was concerned, perhaps), her innocence would awaken in an attempt to protect her.

"How's that, sweetie?"

Daine rolled her eyes at Lavi.

"I look like a mummy, _sensei_."

He grinned at her, the same old Lavi he'd always been. Daine exhaled, resolutely _not_ feeling dejected. They had "trained" for days without pause, and yet, Daine hadn't shown any signs of any sort of offensive innocence. She had tried, after Win had left and Lavi had declared their lessons begun, to lend him power, but it had been an excruciating failure. She had felt the concentration in her hand when she gave it to him, but instead of the usual easy transfer that left her with her eyes closing, her knees weak, she had received a shock that was strong enough to knock her unconscious and she was violently sick for days afterwards, numb to touch, with faltering eyesight, with her nerves set alight.

It was for this reason that they had not started the "training" until well after Kanda and Win had (begrudgingly) sent back a preliminary report (that mainly consisted of complaints, insults, and death threats) that announced that they had made it to Kazakhstan and were searching for the innocence. Daine had wondered briefly if there had been some sort of error in the encryption-it said they were goat herders, husband and wife, no less.

"So, where'll Daine and I be heading, Chief?"

Komui sighed irritably and pushed forth a little file and a bag of money.

"Damascus."

Both teacher and pupil (as they had laughingly taken to calling themselves, mainly as a joke) surreptitiously glanced at one another in surprise, but the excitement in Daine's eyes was infectious and Lavi found himself grinning.

"Damascus is considered to be one of the oldest cities in the world. Been inhabited since 2000 BC, right? Southwestern Syria, here we come~"

Komui rolled his eyes at Lavi's fact-spouting and cut him off before it was too late.

"Yes, you are going to Damascus. There have been reports of innocence there that I want you to investigate. Retrieve it if you can. And do try to blend in with the locals, yes?"

They were words that Komui might have come to regret, but his next cemented his misery even further.

"You will be staying at the best hotel in the entire city, as it is large enough that your presence will be easily overlooked and it is the closest to where our Finders report innocence activity. You will behave-"

He glanced at Lavi specifically here, causing the redhead's grin to widen.

"And above all, you must blend in. Don't let anyone know who you are or why you're there. Contact us when you arrive."

Lavi nodded.

"Sure, Chief."

He sniggered suddenly, taking Daine's arm in his, patting her hand.

"You'll have to stick close, dear, because you are my _favorite_ wife. Apparently, I have _six_."

Daine shot him a bizarre, perplexed look and he waved the folder at her.

"Come on, honey, we have work to do. STRIKE!"

They had been in the desert for three weeks before they at last reached the mountains. Win was beyond exhausted. The mountains were exactly as inhospitable as the desert, and she had quickly come to terms with the fact that these mountains were _dry._ She had been _aching_ to find a pond or something to bathe in-her white hair had turned blonde from all the damn sand! If that wasn't simply the most awful thing in the world-her head seriously felt _heavy_-then she and Kanda found the damn innocence. _In the stupid, mottled old damn billy goat. _It had apparently caught onto its horn at some point in the damn thing's "youth" and the horn had grown around it and hidden it from view.

"No wonder the bloody akuma were after us!"

It all made sense to Win, and she was honestly considering slaying the goat right then and there and having some form of barbecue. It was the damn thing's fault she couldn't sleep, that she was Kanda's wife, that she was stuck in freaking Kazakhstan!

Kanda's thoughts, radiating the same, if not exponentially more bloodlust, were in a different direction. This goat had been given them as part of their "herd." It had traveled across the desert with him. It had forced him to suffer three weeks of needless traveling in horrible (even for Kanda) conditions. It had forced him to pose as the annoying pig woman's husband (as if he would ever marry _that_) and it had all been needless. The damn innocence had been with them all along. And that irritated the hell out of the Japanese man. Komui was going to _die_, and that one was no threat, but a promise.

They were thankfully able to leave the mountains at least, but either way, it was still three weeks of desert before they reached the town in which they would send word to the Order, and that meant another three weeks of hell.

They rested for the evening, once again sleeping back to back, taking turns with watching, and in the morning-after surviving yet _another_ sandstorm-they began their horrible journey back. Win hadn't even known it was possible for something that bad to become worse. There was so much sand on her-no matter how much she tried to shake it off-that she felt heavier, weighed down by the sheer amount of it that was hidden in her clothes, in her hair, rubbing roughly along her skin. She shuddered. Sand. She hated sand.

They were attacked literally fifty-three times by akuma. Literally. And now that they knew where the innocence lay, they were forced to defend the goat. The damn goat. Speaking of said nasty old billy goat…Win screwed up her face, glaring at the man in front of her.

"I buy goat. I BUY GOAT! What the hell do you think waving money in your face and pointing at the damn goat means, you idiot! ARGH, WHY DON'T YOU SPEAK ENGLISH?"

The man glared at her, reiterating his point in his own native tongue.

"_He is a prize-winning goat. He is worth more than any amount of money you can offer me, you brazen wench! Leave my house at once, foul pig woman. I do not associate with whores who walk with their faces so audaciously uncovered, and I certainly do not sell my prize goat to such shameless wenches! Your husband does not beat you often enough! Leave!_"

Win didn't understand his words, but she understood his tone, and she was fuming.

"YOU BLOODY BASTARD, SELL ME THE GOAT OR-"

She was stopped by the man's suddenly terrified expression. She glanced behind her and saw an irate Kanda. The swordsman grabbed the front of the man's shirt.

"Sell us the goat. Now."

Mission LITERALLY Impossible/End.


	9. Damascene Nigrescence, Part I

**Chapter 9: The Sixth Wife's Dance, or, Syrian Nights**

_Damascene Nigrescence, Part I._

It was with a slow and sudden start that Win realized she was finally back in civilization. A tremor went down her spine, just a little one, and she blinked. It felt as though she had been in the desert for so long that she had forgotten what buildings looked like. (Or baths). She suddenly yelped and then whooped loudly, leaping nimbly to her feet (she was standing already, but she was so stooped over it hardly counted) and ran.

The aging footman that saw to welcoming guests on behalf of the wealthy sheikh that owned the hotel nearly went into cardiac arrest when he saw the scraggly, bundled up (and full of sand) travelers limp energetically in his direction. Kanda didn't limp, of course, because that was what _weak_ people did when they twisted their ankles in the stupid desert sand, but the rhythm of his walking was certainly off. Win was covered up in her goat shepherd robe thing with what she figured was supposed to be the hood down so she could enjoy the fresh air.

Kanda gruffly went up to the servant and ordered him to lead them to the suite belonging to the extraordinarily wealthy Maharajah of Gujarat (already renown among the women of that part of Damascus for his foreign appearance and rakishly good looking red hair), and that's where the problems started.

Of course, everybody had heard of the visiting prince. He seemed to have fast become a favorite of Amjad al-Qadir, the man who in essence owned a large portion of Damascus. And the servant who was the acting footman for this great sheikh certainly knew it as well.

"Be gone from this place, beggars! You shall solicit nothing from the esteemed guests of Amjad al-Qadir, not while I draw breath!"

Kanda was not in the mood. At all. He had spent six weeks in the godforsaken desert in Kazakhstan with the annoying pig woman and a herd of ugly, useless goats (not counting the _other_ desert he had crossed to get to Syria!) and he was not going to go another minute without the simple comforts of…the ostentatiously extravagant hotel in front of him. He was about to draw his sword when he heard that dreaded voice.

Not Win's. She had lost her voice from screaming a few weeks back and had not gained it back because of all the sand she was breathing in every day. No, the other dreaded voice.

"YUUUUUUUU-CHAN!"

Kanda twitched. Win's head shot up. If Lavi was near, then so was Daine! Seeing her best friend might almost make traveling directly to Damascus from whatever the name of the little town they used as a base for their expeditions in Kazakhstan with the stupid, prissy girly man and the stupid, mottled old goat worth it.

When Kanda saw Lavi, he was so infuriated by the sight of the redhead that he couldn't speak. Not even to berate him for using his given name and ridiculous suffixes. The man in question was draped in black silk, embroidered in what looked suspiciously like gold thread. The…shirt, if you could call it that, fit loosely on his upper body and was meant to be tied closed at the neck, but Lavi had neglected to do that and thus was showing off his physique through a flatteringly gaping neckline. He wasn't wearing his bandana, and he was barefoot. The pants he was wearing were loose, silk as well and embroidered to match with gold. He was wearing gold jewelry, he smelled like sandalwood and musk and Kanda was most certain that he had just left the bath. What angered the Japanese swordsman most, though, was what he was holding in his hand. A goblet of wine. A freaking goblet of wine. Yes, Kanda was feeling murderous. After all he had suffered to get here-the goat, the desert, sandstorms, hordes of akuma, the annoying pig woman-he finally arrived and found the stupid rabbit living in the absolute lap of luxury.

"Yuu-chan, you're finally here!"

Kanda was going to kill him.

"Ah-they're here, Lavi?"

The redhead snickered, nodding and pulling Daine close with one arm, the other leisurely lifting his golden goblet (it was studded with emeralds) to his mouth to wet his lips before he spoke.

"Yes, my love, they are. Would you care to say hello?"

Daine might have smiled, but Win and Kanda could only tell by the light in her eyes. She was dressed to match Lavi (her shirt didn't tie closed, but rather had a square neck with golden embroidery) but with a silken scarf covering her hair and a light black veil covering her face. Her front was draped in precious gems and spun gold, and her feet were bare.

She was just out of the bath as well, it seemed, because she was scented with jasmine and just a hint of sandalwood. It was so subtle a hint that her newly arrived exorcist friends suspected it hadn't truly been there in the first place-it seemed more as if it had rubbed off on her from Lavi.

"Win, you guys finally made it!"

"My prince, you surely cannot know these beggars!"

Lavi looked up in surprise at the servants passionate exclamation-he had entirely forgotten the man was there. The red head laughed and waved his hand in dismissal.

"These are no beggars. This is my friend and his wife. They were traveling here from Rajkot, which, as you must know, is in the Gujarat territory which is my own, but their caravan was attacked by bandits. It was the raja's prowess with the sword that enabled him to escape with his wife. They disguised themselves in order to travel the desert safely."

The servant looked suddenly horrified and contrite.

"Esteemed ones, I beg your forgiveness! I have caused offense to the guests of the Maharaja's, who is the guest of my master! Please accept this humble sinner's apology."

Kanda let out a noise of disgust and then growled in exasperation when the man suddenly threw himself to the floor, groveling about something or other that he didn't care to even try to understand.

"Guest of the Maharaja's, tell your wife to cover her face! It is exposed!"

Win looked at the man as if she were about to run him through with her claws-and perhaps use his bones to sharpen them-when Kanda nodded at her gruffly.

"Cover up, woman. We have to blend in here."

As much as she hated doing absolutely anything that Kanda told her to, she knew that this wasn't the particular time or place to debate it and used the coarse, sandy fabric of her robe to cover her face like Daine had. Once that was taken care of, they were escorted inside by Lavi and Daine, who dismissed the footman. Kanda scoffed at the man as he left.

"What the hell was his problem?"

Lavi laughed but there was a glint of disapproval in his eye when he answered.

"He was just scared you were going to have him killed for his insolence. That's legal here."

Kanda was silent and he and Win were taken to freshen up for the evening-Lavi had made the executive decision to simply watch over the innocence until Kanda and Win arrived, not because they needed back up, but because once they took the innocence they would in all likelihood have to leave the comfort of the hotel and Lavi was quite enjoying the pampering.

Attendants waited on them in the bath and even Kanda-who absolutely loathed the unnecessary-understood why Lavi had waited. Kanda refused to wear those silk _things_ that made up Lavi's wardrobe, but Win embraced Daine's clothes and came out of the bath smelling literally like roses and draped in a lovely shade of ocean blue.

"Where did you guys even get this stuff?"

Daine looked at Win with a wicked grin when she answered.

"What can I say, the sheikh loves us."

Win's jaw dropped.

"You mean he _gave _you guys all this gold and the silk clothes and the jewels and the perfumes and-is that saffron?"

Daine beamed.

"Yup! It's from one of his spice trade caravans."

Win rummaged through the trunk, finding all sorts of spices and oils, closing the lid with a low whistle.

"Saffron's really expensive. How much money does this guy have?"

Daine shrugged, applying a line of kohl to her left eye, then her right as she tucked her hair into her head wrap thing, whatever it was called. There was a knock on the door and she set the kohl brush down and called softly, "Enter!"

"Hey wifey, you ready?"

It was Lavi, all decked out in his finest robes-once again they were black, but the embroidery was superb and he had rings on every finger, fine chains around his neck, the works. His hammer was, as it had consistently been the four weeks they had stayed at the hotel, tied to a sash at his waist. Kanda stood behind him in his order uniform-he wouldn't change, no way, and he certainly wasn't going to drape himself in silk like the idiot rabbit had.

Daine hurriedly tied her veil across her face, helping a struggling Win with her own. She had, after all, had four weeks of practice. She was also in her finest-dark emerald silk, so dark it looked like black until it caught the light and turned to the clearest bottle green. She had just as much jewelry proportionally as Lavi did, and the sheikh had sent up a fancy golden headdress to go over her head wrap for tonight. It was studded with diamonds, emeralds and pearls from distant Japan and it matched perfectly the rest of her finery.

"As ready as I'll ever be, _oh honorable husband_."

They shared a laugh and Kanda and Win were left wondering what on earth was going on. Neither of the exorcists mentioned anything, though, so they simply followed quietly, Kanda because he was a silent stoic by nature, and Win because her throat was still raw from practically eating sand for nearly eight weeks. It had taken them three weeks once in Kazakhstan to reach the mountains, three weeks to return to the village, and nearly two to get to Damascus. Never had Win wished so hard to be able to take a train.

"Lavi, what's going on?"

The redhead let go of his "wife" and turned to Win, grinning.

"Today you shall have the honor of enjoying a huge feast in honor of the Maharaja of Gujarat. Namely, me. Oh, and you get to watch the famed dance of his sixth wife. Which would be his favorite wife. Namely, Daine."

Win made a face of surprise.

"Daine is dancing?"

Lavi nodded, drumming his fingers (Kanda couldn't get over how showy it looked, what with all of the huge precious stones sparkling on his rings and all) to a rhythm Win didn't recognize. Daine apparently did, because she looked at him a little shyly and then started muttering counts to herself.

"Oh, by the way, Yuu-chan, if anyone asks, Win is your first wife."

Kanda glared at Lavi in disgust.

"What do you mean, '_first_'?"

Lavi waved a hand airily about, looking utterly mischievous.

"Oh, well, I told the sheikh that you had two. Win, your first wife, and Moyashi, your second."

There was a pregnant pause as everyone pictured Kanda being married to Allen, who was, of course, called "moyashi" by Kanda, which was Japanese for bean sprout. And then, all hell broke loose.

"The esteemed Maharaja of Gujarat and his sixth wife, the honorable Maharani of Gujarat."

Lavi walked Daine into the great hall of the sheikh's house, to where they had been transported in litters carried by servants earlier in the evening. They took their seats next to the sheikh, in the place of honor. Once seated, Daine surreptitiously pressed her hand to Lavi's knee and he leaned over, as if kissing his wife, so that she could whisper in his ear.

"While I dance, collect the innocence."

He nodded an affirmative at her after pressing a brief kiss to her cheek. Why not, he figured. After all, she _was_ his favorite wife. That entitled him to it, right?

"The esteemed Raja of Rajkot and the honorable Rani of Rajkot."

Kanda walked in, escorting (in a very sour-faced manner) a pretty if disgruntled Win.

"His esteemed self, Amjad al-Qadir."

Here there was silence, and Win craned her neck to see the man who had just walked in. He was nothing like she had expected, nothing at all. In fact, he was exactly the opposite of what she had expected. What she expected being, of course, a really fat old sultan type, you know, the stereotypical ones with those odd mustaches?

He was nothing like that at all. In fact…he was rather…

"My dearest guests! Welcome! Welcome to my humble home!"

The two hundred people gathered all made clear their approval, and the sheikh, who had raised his hands dramatically at his place at the head of the table, nodded his acceptance.

"Today we feast in honor of my esteemed friend, the Maharaja of Gujarat, and we have the pleasure of being entertained by the honorable Maharani of Gujarat, our exalted guest's most favored wife."

More cheers of approval.

"Now, my esteemed guests, feast unto your heart's content! Take pleasure from what I humbly offer you, and may Allah bless us all!"

There was another cheer and the feast began.

When Daine had fist met Amjad al-Qadir, she had taken a most favorable impression of him. The man was genial, charming, even, generous to both his friends and those beneath him, and was, for lack of a better word, gorgeous. He was of a powerful, sinuous build, very trim but with the appearance of one who is quick, agile, and very, very smooth in his movement. He had dark hair, deliciously rich, tawny eyes, and a sort of coffee colored skin that was nothing short of exotic. He had welcomed Lavi with a hug and kisses on both cheeks, and he had cut the most sweeping figure when he bowed to Daine-who had turned pink beneath her mask-and she had immediately gotten the feeling that the man before her was dangerous.

It wasn't his prowess with a blade-though they had seen a demonstration of it in the courtyard and had been more than impressed-and it wasn't the power he wielded or the men at his command. No, it was the way he had looked at her when they met. She had felt then an easy trembling in her knees and she felt his almost overwhelming presence acutely, so much so that it was as if she was nothing but sand slipping through his long elegant fingers. Their very brief conversation had put the image in her mind of an adder in the desert, nothing but a breath of winding lines, an alluring promise of night. He was like a pattern of waves in her mind in all colors, iridescent, heralding a coming dark, and when he had briefly brushed past her in the narrow hallway that lead to her room, she had felt a sudden spark and a flare, like the lighting of an oil lamp, the slow intoxication of the heady perfumes of the baths and the heat of the water slipping over her and the dark silk of the sheets in her room and she swallowed. Amjad al-Qadir was dangerous because he was a physical embodiment of temptation, and as she stood before him to dance, feeling his rich, molten gold eyes trained on her as if no one else existed, she knew exactly the danger he presented and sighed.

It was that soft, soft sigh that had caught the entire room's attention. Daine raised her arms above her head and counted the beat she was presented with-Lavi had taught her the dance, he had seen it once, in his youth, in India and had, of course, remembered everything-and began. Lavi slipped out, unnoticed by everyone.

One arm descends in a slow, slow crescent, and the other one is brought to her face. Make a circle with the index finger and the thumb, keep the other three fingers so straight they look like they arch backwards. Bring the left hand to the face, touch the circle to the cheekbone, move a foot slowly forward, toe pointed and then step so that the foot is parallel to the arm that is now extended in a sweeping gesture to one side. Seven…eight…nine…

She did her absolute best to make her movements entrancing-if someone noticed Lavi missing, it might compromise their mission-and tried to keep calm, barely breathing for fear of moving her mask. It should look, she thought, as if she didn't need to breathe, as if she was some sort of apparition. She was legendary Sixth Wife of the Maharaja of Gujarat, every movement of her body should be art, the slow sway of her hips music, her svelte limbs and her curves poetry. She had to act her part.

It was difficult, the dance, but she had thought that it would be easier to learn as it was slower, but that hadn't been the case at all. With speed comes sloppiness, and it would have been more challenging for a member of her audience to note a botched kick or too violent of turn amidst a flurry of movement. Her movements were slow, and the timing had to be perfect. She had practiced and practiced-this was the window of time that they needed, this was the distraction that would allow Lavi the opportunity to slip into the inner chambers of the sheikh's room and make away with the innocence. She couldn't fail, not now.

There was a glimmer of something in her host's eyes when she came before him-entirely unintentionally-and rose up from the sort of contortion that made her wonder at the fact that her spine hadn't snapped clean in half and tilted her head before him, raising one hand into the air as gracefully as she could manage as the other one was lowered to over her stomach, and she bent her leg at the knee so that her foot pointed to the side and it ran parallel to the floor. She felt a breath of cool air against her cheek and realized it was because her mask had ever so slightly moved, teasing the man with the slightest hint of her pale skin, the curve of her jaw. It nearly made her botch a move it had taken her three nights to complete, a slow lowering on one foot, the graceful curving of her foot as left and right switched places and she rose again. She backed up with a halting step then two, then three, and as the music at last sped up she bent backwards with a grace she would have never believed herself to have (product of Lavi's photographic memory and eye for criticism) and lowered herself to her knees, rose from her nearly laying flat position and bowed low before her audience, with her hands extended before her, palms flat on the ground in a gesture of supplication and all she could do was pray.

Lavi had slipped in quite easily enough, there had been guards, of course, but his hammer was for use against akuma, not people, (mostly) and he had found an alternate entrance. After climbing onto the roof and extending his hammer, he had proceeded to use it as a sort of slide to drop down into the room. The sheikh had a pool in the antechamber of his room that had open roof access-Amjad had told him that he loved the night sky, the stars, and the soft silvery glow of the moon, and Lavi had to agree, it certainly gave the room a sort of sensual charm-and it had seemed to Lavi the perfect entrance.

The sheikh was in possession of a most fabulous family heirloom-a wickedly curved blade that dated back to the Crusades, said to have been wielded by his ancestors since the rise of their family. The sheikh had shown this most prized of possessions to his friend the Maharaja, explaining that the blade's hilt had been restored in his personal forges by the most skilled of craftsmen, but the blade itself was the same Damascus steel wielded by his Saracen ancestors. The blade was the innocence, Lavi was sure. The numerous stories they had heard-it seemed to confirm what they had been told, what they believed. So, why did Lavi have the feeling (that he absolutely loathed with every fiber of his being) that he was missing something? It was then that he realized and the annoyed expression on his face faded into one of recognition. He stared at the blade in question.

"_It had been in my family since the time of the Crusades, it is the blade of a most honorable ancestor who fought and died for our beliefs. To me has passed the last of his possessions, his blade, wrought here in Damascus, in the way of the ancient smiths, and his mantle, gifted to him by the Saracen leader before the fall of Jaffa. I wear it now to only the most spectacular of occasions, for the most esteemed guests. Yourself included, my friend."_

The mantle. He could see it in his mind's eyes, the jeweled clasp where it gathered. He cursed. Why couldn't a mission go smoothly for once? Was it really too much to ask? He didn't know it as he extended his hammer and used it to carefully clamber up out of the sheikh's private chambers, but the state of their mission was rapidly deteriorating.

"Rise."

Daine dared not utter a word as Amjad smiled quite dangerously at her and did exactly as he asked, drawing herself up to her full height. He motioned her forward and she obeyed, stopping right before where the man sat back, reclining. He pulled her almost into his lap, his mouth by her ear in a way that sent a chill down her spine, even as she felt suddenly warm.

"I commend you, lady, for so successfully diverting my attention. I hardly noticed him leaving."

And he released her, his tawny gaze lingering on her even as she fled the room.

The Sixth Wife's Dance, or, Syrian Nights/End.


End file.
